


Who You Callin' Hyuuga? - Arc 2 - The Nibi Incident

by Ikasury



Series: WYCH - Series [2]
Category: Naruto
Genre: Bakeneko, Bigger Better More Badass!, Build Your Own Family, Cloud Village, Demon possession, Demons, For Want of a Nail, Gen, Goddamn Cats!, Hinata Kidnapped by Kumo, Hinata is Yorihi, Kumogakure, Let's Play Tag, Lots of OCs - Freeform, Made-up History, Mononoke - Freeform, Nekomata, Raikage is your Daddy, Raised by Assassins, Supernatural Elements, This Looks like..., UST, Uchiha Bastards, Village of Badass, Zombies, engrish, world building
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-02-09
Updated: 2016-02-09
Packaged: 2018-05-19 09:18:18
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 8
Words: 61,216
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5962102
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Ikasury/pseuds/Ikasury
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>After the Hyuuga Incident, Hyuuga Hinata is no more. Now under the name of Tenkyuu Yorihi, she is learning more about the world of Kumogakure, her adoptive family and the strange things that happen there. Meanwhile the young Nibi Jinchuuriki is having issues of her own, coming to terms with her inner demon...</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Ghost Cat

**Author's Note:**

> Welcome back!
> 
> This is Arc 2 of my sort-of Epic: Who You Callin' Hyuuga? :D
> 
> on FFN this is all in one piece, but while posting it here i was suggested i do it in smaller parts, so figured it'd be good to go by the Arcs i'd developed while writing! So i'll be doing that! :D
> 
> Dis: Naruto is owned by Kishimoto, i'm just playing with his stuff~

- _Deep breaths…_ -

Nii Yugito took a deep inhale, trying to calm her turbulent mind.

- _Just keep taking deep breaths_ -

She needed to brush all thoughts aside, and find that dark spot in her mind where the Nibi no Nekomata resided. She was 16, and in her short years of life she had seen some terrible things, some so bad she had even forgotten them just to maintain what grasp of sanity she had. The only thing she truly remembered was a lingering sense of pain, often, sadness, not so much, and regret, on very rare occasions. She wondered about these memories that haunted the further recesses of her mind, ones only the Nekomata really dared to tread. Which was why she was here, currently trying to find that damnable cat that often slept or nipped at her sassily in the back of her mind. – _Fucking cat…_ -

She wasn’t like Killer Bee-sensei, she didn’t have this unusual rapport with her inner demon, and she doubted she ever would. The Nibi no Nekomata wasn’t exactly a ‘nice’ and ‘chatty’ cat, preferring threats or overall just ignoring her, which the young woman probably despised the most about the beast.

“Are you even there, you stupid cat…” the young blonde whispered under her breath as she opened her eyes slowly, today’s attempt/exercise was done, she would try again tomorrow, and maybe then wouldn’t be so obviously ignored by that damnable demon cat.

She felt a nudge behind her, and two furry lengths cup around her chest before being pulled away as the face of a long eared black-purple cat gazed up at her with unusual emerald eyes. The young woman laughed in her throat before lifting her arm high enough to allow the fork-tailed cat to nuzzle its way comfortably into her lap, pad its way into a comfortable position and sit down. Her not-so-delicate hand came down on the black-purple fur on its head, eliciting a nonsensical growl/meow-mix as it waved around its forked-tail with a slight sense of satisfaction.

The tip of her lip raise a moment, “speak of the devil and he shall come,” the cat merely glanced at her with a cocked eye before going back to enjoying her ministrations.

She scratched behind one of its large ears, “What have you been up to Batsuko?”

The fork-tailed cat replied with a little babble of meows, as if it was actually responding to her question.

“I see,” she said, oddly understanding the petulant cat as she moved her hand to scratch behind its other ear.

There was a moment of silence between the two, Yugito simply petting the cat named Batsuko.

\-----

“Hmmm…”

A tiny girl, several months older than 3 sat in front of the large ceiling to floor windows of her room, facing outward at the small storm plaguing the outside of her tiny world. She sat cross-legged, with both hands pressed together flat, palm to palm, and her tiny ink-blue brows knitted in concentration over the ever present bandanna around her supposedly ‘ _useless_ ’ eyes.

“Aragh!!” she cried out in her frustration, once again failing to achieve her goal, activating her eyes. She scrunched up her face in a disgruntled pout, “I don’t get it, I can do it when I don’t mean to,” she growled again and laid back in frustration banging her tiny fists on the floor, “So why can’t I do it when I want to!!”

Having all of her tiny fury released in that one disgruntled shout, little Yorihi simply laid on her back staring into the darkness that was her bandanna. She was trying to figure out how to get her eyes to work, even if it wasn’t what her Teacher had asked her to do. – _Both Kemui-sama and Otou-sama want me to be able to use my eyes, even if they don’t directly say it…_ \- she grit her teeth and growled again as she placed her tiny hands over her eyes.

 It was such an unladylike thing to do, the way she was acting, but since she had come to be with her new family she didn’t care about all that ‘proper’ stuff her old clan had been teaching her. Especially since they didn’t seem to expect it, or enforce it upon her. It was weird, at first, when she was allowed to eat in her room, strange when she didn’t even get yelled at for having the place a mess or not making her bed as soon as she woke up. Heck, she didn’t even have to wear a sleeping kimono if she didn’t want to when she went to bed. Even her way of speaking, the small girl had noticed, had started to change, true she still kept it ‘proper’, mainly because her mother had taught her that way, but instead the _way_ she spoke had started changing. After all, being around three very _distinct_ ways of speaking was bound to rub off on the little girl.

“Oji likes to… what was it? ‘Wrap’ when he talks,” Yorihi couldn’t quite remember the right word for the way her boisterous uncle spoke, but she did understand it was some kind of ‘song’ thing and therefore involved a lot of ‘rhyming’, “Even if Kemui-sama says he never gets it right,” a large grin formed on her lips at this.

“Kemui-sama is very… how did Oji put it?” her bandanaed face tilted to the side as she thought, “‘ _Flat_ ’?” she giggled at that a bit, remembering how her uncle and Teacher often got into quiet arguments about proper semantics, it often boiling down to him saying she was flat and her stating he couldn’t produce a proper rhyme to save his life. These ‘arguments’ always ended with her father telling them both to ‘ _shut up!!_ ’ and them doing so. Of course little Yorihi didn’t quite understand their conversations, since she rather liked her Uncle’s rhymes thinking they were ‘cool’, and she liked the way her teacher spoke, it was quiet, but at the same time somehow both gentle and commanding, and, often in the company of her uncle, very sarcastic and funny to the small girl.

The tiny girl smiled widely, “Then of course there’s Otou-sama, who’s just LOUD!!!” the little girl popped up yelling the last word in an imitation of her new father, eliciting laughter as usual.

It was then she noticed the distinct _fuzz_ feeling she got every time her eyes were ‘on’, as her uncle put it. – _Now you decide to work?_ \- she never could quite figure it out, whenever she was trying to get them to work, they didn’t, and when she wasn’t paying attention and overall content they just ‘clicked’ on. She pouted, resting her chin on her hand as she scanned her room around her without even moving her head. This had become such a _normal_ random occurrence that she had actually started to get accustomed to the unusual vision of the entire world around her in view. It was strange, and often overwhelming and nauseating when she was given the time to calmly examine the view, but she had started getting used to it.

**_ Bonk!! _ **

… well ‘ _started_ ’ being the apt word here.

“Dizzy…” was all the little girl could say as her mind was literally spinning since she had tried to actually pay attention to EVERYTHING that was in her view at once; the result being her falling back on the floor with a sense of vertigo.

When her mind stopped spinning long enough, the little girl turned her eyes ‘off’, and her sight returned to that of the blackness behind her bandanna. Her hand absentmindedly reached up and tugged the blue piece of fabric down, allowing the wooden ceiling to come into her view. She stared at the ceiling for a moment, contemplating that at least in all these little ‘practices’ with her eyes she’d at least learned the ‘off switch’ quite well. – _Now it’s just getting the ‘on switch’ to work…_ \- she pouted at this thought.

“Nyaa~”

The little girl with white-eyes blinked at the foreign sound. – _Was that a cat?_ \- and as if to answer her mental question a strange long-eared black-purple cat leaned over into her vision, and peered effortlessly at her with strange emerald colored eyes.

“Nyaa…” it seemed to mumble at her, just staring at her as if it had asked a question and was waiting for her answer.

“Neko… -chan?” Yorihi blinked her white eyes again. There was a cat, in her room, staring at her. She blinked again, and again the cat was still there, still staring at her, only now it seemed to have raised an odd brow and tilted its head slightly at her as if wondering what is was she was doing. The white eyed girl just stared at the feline as the tilt angle of its head seemed to increase.

She couldn’t help but start laughing at it.

“Ahhahahhaha… haha…” Yorihi sat up straight, the strange dark feline taking defiantly soft and precarious steps away from the giggling young girl. The usually bandanna covered girl noticed this, and tried to stem the tide of her giggling, “Mah… matte, Neko-chan!!” she smiled brightly at the cat, waving it to come closer; it seemed to stare at her strangely before cautiously padding towards her again. The young girl smiled wide enough to close her eyes.

The finicky cat sat a foot or so from her, waving its forked tail around, giving her the occasional wary side-glance, “Nyaa…”

“Ne, ne, Neko-chan, it’s okay, I won’t hurt you…” she smiled kindly at it as she waved it over closer.

It gave her another side-glance before turning its head and began preening, seemingly ignoring the young dark haired girl.

This action the cat made caused Yorihi to stare at it, head tilted only the slightest.

The dark shadowy-colored cat cracked an eye at her, seeming to find her intent and questioning gaze on it ‘strange’. The cat paused a moment in its preening, snorting and looking the other way, as if not really caring for her presence or recognizing it. Of course, this lack of care and notice was thrown out the window as Yorihi had quietly crept closer to the cat and tried to pet it, the finicky feline deftly dodging her petting attempts and almost twirling out of reach of her hand as its forked tail flicked her hand.

The small girl just pouted at the odd cat, as it seemed to just stare strangely at her a few more feet away. She absentmindedly rubbed her hand, “Ne, Neko-chan, how’d you do that?” the dark cat seemed to give a Cheshire grin before babbling something with little grunts and mews. Yorihi just sat down straight in front of the cat, staring intently at it with her white-eyes and an obvious pout on her face, “You just don’t want to tell me do you?”

The cat seemed to grin before standing up and flicking her with its forked tail again and padding away. The young girl watched it for a moment, not sure what to think of the strange animals actions, then she noticed it stop some few away from her, almost two or three feet from the closest wall and it just stared at her over its shoulder as if waiting for her to do something. The young girl tilted her head at it again, confused and not sure what it wanted.

It gave a snort before nudging its head towards the wall.

A little ink-blue brow furrowed, “Do you want me to follow you?”

The cat snorted again, waving its tail around as it padded towards the wall like that was exactly its intent. The small girl quickly got to her feet and followed the finicky feline, wondering what it wanted to show her, or if it realized it was about two seconds away from walking into a wall.

Or not?

“Nani?!” the little girl let out a start as she watched the strange purple-black, fork-tailed cat just walked through the wall like it was air. Immediately her little legs took her to the wall, and she felt all around it looking for some kind of trapdoor or false wall, or something that explained how that weird cat just walked through a wall? Her dark little brows furrowed as her search resulted in nothing, her little fist banging the wall as she gave an irritated grunt at the obviously solid object. She took a step back, glaring at it with open white-eyes and a distinctly frustrated pout on her face, “If I could just see through the wall, I could find out how it did that…”

It was as if lighting struck her head.

“Of course!!!” she immediately closed her eyes, clinching her fists and trying desperately to find that fuzz-feeling she always got when her eyes activated. – _Come on, just work this once…_ \- she slammed her hands together flat, focusing all of her energy and thoughts to her hands, using them as a focal point to concentrate on getting her eyes to work, for once, on her command. Yorihi may not have known it at the time, but this was the exact moment she had started to figure out chakra and how to use it.

Her brows furrowed deeper, as the mantra – _Work, turn on, work, turn on…_ \- began to repeat time and time again in her mind, her thoughts becoming so focused on that one idea, getting her eyes to ‘turn on’ she didn’t even notice anything else around her, not the time she spent doing it, not the sweat starting to form on her brow from her concentration, not even the fluffy-purple-black cat that was sitting patiently in front of her wall with a Cheshire grin on its smug little face.

And there it was, like a **_snap!!_** She felt something unlock in the back of her mind as an unusual feeling, far different then the ‘fuzz’ she normally associated with her eyes activating, but at the same time similar, just so much clearer. The small ink-blue haired girl opened her eyes with a start at the unusual sensation and found she could see all the world around her, only it was different. Everything was black except for the outlines of everything in a shadowy grey color, her eyesight extended further then she remembered it, in fact she could see right through the walls surrounding her as if they were glass and she noticed blue fire shaped like people standing outside her door. She blinked, noticing they were still there, and then raised her own hand and saw the same bluish flames flickering around lines inside her hands. She blinked, finding the look strange, she could see through her hand, and saw lines of swirling blue fire inside it, and she had no idea what in the world she was looking at.

Then she noticed something just outside her vision, beyond her hand. Quickly lowering the unusual looking appendage she saw a bundle of color sitting at the base of her wall she had wanted so desperately to see through. There, sitting rather comfortably in an upward position was a bundle of lines that distinctly made the form of a cat. The strange thing was that this ‘cat’ wasn’t the blue she saw in herself and the guard outside her door, no, it was purple, a dark black-purple that seemed to swish and sway, but unlike fire, instead it was like a murky flow of water emanating a mist like that she saw outside every morning. She was so startled to see the unusualness of the cat’s chakra she blinked away her enhanced vision, the world quickly coming back to her with vibrant color as she stared into the emerald green eyes of the fork-tailed cat. A Cheshire grin well in place on its features.

A wave of exhaustion hit Yorihi and she immediately collapsed on the floor.

\-----

It was some time later, but as Kemui opened the door to her student’s room, dismissing the guard as his presences was no longer necessary with her being there, that came face to face with a rather unusual sight. There, lying flat on her back, only a few feet away from the far wall was her student, bandanna down and completely knocked out sleeping peacefully. A dark purple-black ball of fur curled up quiet contently on the small girl’s chest. As Kemui stepped closer to the deceptive feline its unusual emerald eyes opened and stared at the fierce white woman of the north, its glare burrowing deep into her sharp grey eyes.

Kemui stopped, glaring back at the feline, the urge to openly growl at the cat was crawling up her spine but she beat it back swiftly knowing better then to disrupt something as powerful as the creature she could feel hidden in such a small body. Her senses were on high alert; she could feel the chakra coming from that cat as being something unusual and very malicious. The white-haired woman’s left hand crept closer to her blade. If this thing was a threat to her student, she would deal with it quickly. Only one word escaped her lips as she sent as much killing intent as she had at the dark colored feline, “Bakeneko…”

The Ghost-Cat seemed to smirk at her, unfurling its forked tail and sitting up straight on the small girl lying unconscious and unaware on the floor. A string of babbles escaped its small mouth before Kemui felt a torrent of ice cold pressure on her entire being; the Ghost-Cat was obviously taking her unspoken threat seriously. The white-haired woman bared her teeth at the beast. The cat stood up straight, its green eyes almost glowing as it took a position to pounce at the assassin. Kemui swiftly drew her blade, taking a defensive position expecting a quick attack from the inhuman creature. The Ghost-Cat crouched lower to lunge, eyes never leaving the white woman, about to strike…

“Mmhmm…” before being deftly grabbed by a fully asleep three-and-something year old who then rolled over eliciting a cat-screech from the unusual feline as she had apparently rolled on its tail. What happened next was rather obvious; claws extended, white-eyes opened, there was a yelp of pain and the cat went flying as the little girl jumped up and shrieked at the top of her lungs.

So much chaos in less than a second…

Kemui released an intake of breathe and quickly sheathed her blade, content that her student was safe. She opened content grey eyes to the sight of her student apologizing profusely to a very ticked looking cat, every attempt she seemed to make at placating the feline, and showing the sincerity of her pleas, the creature would just look away, swish its tail and babble something like it was still offended. Kemui crossed her arms looking upon the scene. – _She was safe all along…_ \- The white woman realized, the mononoke had done nothing to the little girl that was her Lord’s daughter, and it was merely being ‘ _friendly_ ’, in some strange manner to her, like it was watching over her for whatever reason.

“Ah, Kemui-sama!” grey eyes snapped to white ones at the mention of her name, she saw an unbeatably brilliant grin on the tiny girls face, like she had just seen the most important person to her walk in. The idea was strange to the white woman, having someone so young actually be excited by her presence. Before she knew it the tiny girl had run up and grabbed her hand, tugging gently in the direction of the cat, “You have to see Neko-chan,” she pointed in the feline’s direction, “It’s really cool, I’ve never seen a cat like that before, with long ears and a split tail!!” she seemed to start bouncing with excitement as she tried to move her much bigger teacher, “And, and… it can walk through walls!!”  Kemui stared down at her student at that, confirming her own suspicions about the creature with that statement.

The strict woman was honestly about to scold her student for being so… ‘excited’, and that she should be more careful and not to go anywhere near the creature again, but as her cloudy eyes looked at those pearl-like orbs, so happy, so bright, and so full of something Kemui honestly could not identify, she held back. She actually bit her tongue, harder then she meant to but not enough to draw blood. How could she say ‘no’ to that, her, one of the most frightening people in Kumo, and she was being beaten by a child. A small part in the back of her mind seemed to smirk at the idea – _I guess this is how parents must feel about their children_ \- the thought, though shocking, out there and strange to the white-woman’s thoughts, was not immediately dismissed. Instead she looked down at her student, who seemed to have gone quiet after noticing the lack of reaction from her teacher, a look of obvious concern on her tiny face.

Yorihi’s tiny hand tightened around her teacher’s larger one, “K-Kemui-sama?”

A slight, slight, so tiny smile picked at the edge of the white woman’s mouth as her hand tightened back at her student’s, her steel colored eyes seeming just a small bit not as hard, “I am alright Yorihi-hime,” her cloudy eyes turned to the cat, its emerald eyes fixed suspiciously on the scene, “Bakeneko… -sama,” she added the honorific as an afterthought, not out of disrespect,  but because of it she had figured out this small thing about the tie between herself and her student. She had been willing to fight this inhuman thing for her, and it wasn’t because of her duty to the small child, because of this, the Ghost-Cat deserved at least that much respect.

The cat seemed to snort, before eyeing the woman again, an understanding met between them, before it turned quickly and faded out of existence.

“Ah, Neko-chan?” Yorihi called after it, slightly disappointed that the strange cat went away. Her questioning white eyes went to her teachers, “It disappeared…”

“Yes, Yorihi-hime,” the white-woman said looking down at her student, “But I don’t think it’s gone for good,” she knew she shouldn’t have said it; the excitement in her student’s eyes that such a dangerous creature could return was worth it... Even if her statement became true.

\-----

Nii Yugito sat on the raised balcony of her room, staring intently up at the crescent moon. The sky was clear, the stars bright, and the moon looked like the sideways grin of something devious and intelligent. She knew that grin well, it was on the face of that cat that sat in the back of her mind, always frightening and welcoming all in one, that Cheshire grin as if it was setting a devious plan in motion.

Her dark eyes saddened a bit, and she wasn’t exactly sure why.

The feel of something trailing along her arm caught the young woman’s attention; she didn’t have to glance down to know what it was. The familiar weight of something soft and otherworldly found itself in her lap, padding away at her night-kimono making a comfortable spot for itself. A hand absentmindedly found its way to the cat’s head, scratching that spot behind its ear making it purr, “What machinations have you been up to today Batsuko?”

The purple-black feline nuzzled happily into her hand before it curled in a ball and began babbling again as if answering her question.

The young woman smiled softly as she scratched behind the dark cat’s long ears, “Seems you’ve been busy causing trouble again,” the cat’s only response was yawning like it didn’t care, Yugito grinned anyway, “I hope you’re not trying to make Kemui-sama angry,” the cat babbled again nuzzling into its ball, “I see…” the young woman said, contemplating as she looked back up at the stars and the grinning moon, “I hope you know what you’re doing…”

The dark feline merely purred in the young woman’s lap, content with the world for that moment in time.

\-----

Bakeneko – Ghost Cat

Mononoke – Spirit

\-----


	2. May

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A storm comes to Kumo and it dredges up memories of the past...

It was nights like this that dreams were often started. Dreams of the past, dreams of the future. Dreams of a million other things and ‘what ifs’ that would have happened had one thing gone differently in one’s life instead of how things did happen.

Cold grey eyes watched the dark clouds. A flash of light would go off in the distance, an arc of lightning, a hint of rain that should have already fallen. A heavy, oppressive atmosphere. It was nights like these that Kemui never slept. Her cold as steel eyes watching the migrant electricity travel its way through the clouds like a vengeful dragon. Her clear, crisp, and precise vision taking in every detail without pause, taking it all in and processing it. Watching, waiting… that’s all she ever did on nights like this, she wouldn’t sleep, couldn’t sleep, otherwise her dreams would find her, and the past would find its way into her waking world and her dreaming eye would probably find something it shouldn’t in the fractured reality she viewed.

… And then, something would go wrong.

Her head tilted forward, resting on the ceiling to floor window, her eyes slowly drifting closed as she could feel the heat coming from the other side of the window, a stark contrast to the cold of the stone wall she was currently leaning against. She hated it. Nights like this. In most ways it left her unbidden, open, in some strange way out of control and she was a woman whom it was never a good thing if she was out of control.

“I see you’re still awake,” a normally-loud voice entered her ears, oddly low and subdued as the familiar click of her door shutting made itself know. Cloudy eyes slowly opened again, chasing away her comforting darkness as the sparking lights came back to her as she felt his heavy footsteps as he made his way across her floor to stand in the middle of her large window, his beady black eyes taking in the view of the heat lighting.

The white woman remained leaning against the wall and her window, not bothering to move into any formal pose, or openly acknowledge his presence just yet. This was their neutral territory, her room, the sole environment in the entire world she could claim as her own, and the only place she allowed herself to be truly human around the only man that had given her so much respect despite all the atrocities she had done in his name. – _Heh, then again, that’s probably why…_ \- her grey eyes opened wider slightly, now staring out the thick glass as the lights danced outside in the dark clouds.

He stood silently, hands held respectively behind his back, eyes solely on the happenings outside this room, out in the real world. He had discarded his Raikage’s hat while in this room, as a sign of respect to the sole person he honestly trusted to turn his back on. The normally loud man kept his silence here, she enjoyed the quiet, and it was not his place to disrupt it here.

She made a sound in her throat as she heard the low rumble of the far off thunder, “Jin…” she whispered almost silently, “What are you doing here?”

“I could ask you the same thing,” the man known as Gouzen Jinrai glanced over at the smaller white haired woman, a half smile on his face as the next word left his mouth, “Satsuki…”

White brows twitched down the smallest bit, and Jinrai was sure if she had been any other woman, she would be openly pouting right now. He grinned widely at her. Her grey eyes were sharper now, she was thinking.

“This is my room,” she said, still not looking at him, her bottom lip looking like it wanted to stick out and fulfill that pout her white eyebrows almost gave away.

The large dark-skinned man grinned with his eyes before habitually stroking his smaller goatee, “I came to check on you…”

Grey eyes glanced at him a moment before returning to the flashing display outside, her head resting firmly on the window.

Silence prevailed between them, bothered only by the flashes of lighting and the rumble of thunder in the dark cloudy sky.

“Its nights like these that I remember that day,” Jinrai said softly. She looked at him this time, moving her eyes and nothing else. The man at the top of power in the land of Lighting reached his right hand out and placed it flat on the glass in front of him, obscuring his vision of his own reflection from the continued flashes of light. To the grey eyed woman, it was like he was trying to reach out and grab a piece of lighting and hold it strongly in that one hand alone. Her eyes trailed the floor a moment before they found their way outside again, trailing the lines the dark clouds made against the midnight sky.

“It was raining then,” she said bluntly, as if correcting him.

An unusual sound came from the large man, “Yes,” he slowly removed his hand, bringing it down, “Yes it was,” his beady black eyes finding the reflection of a large man with eyes that were blank and somewhere between knowing and completely lost. The blonde quickly looked away from the doppelganger to the woman not five feet from him, “But it started out like this…” She quietly nodded, and he returned to looking at the dark but flashing sky.

While grey and black eyes watched the changing scenery, Jinrai was quietly watching his companion. It was true, he was perhaps the longest ‘living’ person who’d known the quiet white woman from the north, and while he knew, to an extent why, a part of his mind constantly wondered why it was she had chosen him as her lord, even back when he was just a little loud mouth brat talking back to the council and his grandfather. His head leaned slightly downward, there were stories and dark secrets between the two of them, one most provoking being ‘ _that day_ ’ he would only vaguely speak to her about. In the history of Kumo, it was something stupendous and shrouded in mystery like a legend. To him, his brother, and the woman so close yet so far away from him, it was simply the day he took control of Kumogakure no Sato. The day he claimed the ‘Raikage’ title as his own.

He smirked lightly to himself, running his hand over his braids, “We were foolish children weren’t we?” she gave an affirmative sound, silently nodding as her cloudy eyes were fixated on the outer world. “Hmp,” he seemed to grunt gaining her attention, if only for a moment, “foolish children with foolish dreams…” he circled his hands behind his back, eyes back on the lighting.

The white-haired woman narrowed her eyes the slightest bit looking at the large man, “Foolish children who got their foolish dreams…”

“At the cost of others…” his black eyes found her grey ones, perhaps the most solemn look she had seen on his face in a long time.

Her answer came with a slight glare from her eyes, “And what of those dreams…” she crossed her arms defiantly, grey eyes back outside just in time to catch a large bolt of lightning off in the distance.

He smirked lightly again as he watched the night sky dance before him. That was probably the most defiant she ever got with him, and it was somewhat refreshing to know that ‘ _back-talking ruffian_ ’ of her clan was still in there deep down.

“He asked if he could stay…” the solemn nature and suddenness of her voice caught Jin’s attention, dragging it away from his musings about their past. Black eyes glanced her way, openly questioning her to elaborate. Her forehead rested firmly on the window, grey eyes blankly staring at nothing, “That Hyuuga…” she didn’t have to say anything further, it was understood between them.

Jinrai’s beady eyes weighed heavy as he too stared ahead blankly, his stance unmoving almost pensive, “And what of it?”

The white-haired woman made a simple shrug, “When he mentioned his son… eh,” she gave a half empty smirk, “Figured you didn’t need any more of their kind.” The response was simple, plain, almost flat, the large dark skinned man could tell it was simply one of those things she had been thinking about to keep herself awake on a night like this. He wouldn’t let it get to him, she didn’t.

“Jimei almost went further…” another observation that was on her mind, one she was making in the absence of conversation, again, what Jinrai kept telling himself. She seemed to sigh deeply, for her, and leaned against the window more comfortably, her eyelids hanging, almost as if wanting to drop at any moment but she refused such nature. “Seichi… would have handled it if necessary.”

“Mm,” the blonde nodded in affirmation, almost half-tempted to slip back into ‘Raikage-mode’ if she was so intent on giving him a ‘report’ on the going-ons these past few months. – _She always does that, the closer you get to what she is, the further she slips away…_ \- She never openly told him anything directly; her past, her present, future, the things that woke her in the middle of the night, or the things that kept her awake on nights like this. 

– _Always like a wisp of smoke…_ \- he thought; he could see her, but never actually grasp her.

The white woman made a motion that caught his attention out of the corner of his eye, apparently just re-crossing her arms for stability. His black eyes trailed down to the floor, following the edge of the window until he came upon black sandals with plates on the top. The right was flat on the floor, providing all the support for the woman’s body, while the left curled behind it nonchalantly, adding to her entire stance as his beady dark eyes followed the alternating color of black and grey on the woman’s outfit upward. His eyes picked up on the random hue of white that lingered around her back, those three thin braids she never did anything with, catching them and he followed the little lines of white all the way up to her face. It was strange… he was used to seeing this woman with such a sharp look about her, but at the moment, she looked almost… dull, lost. It was probably just the late night and lack of sleep that was getting to her. A subtle grin passed the other side of his lips from her, “I trust the information was worth it?”

She nodded lazily against the window closing her eyes, “Message was sent,” she slowly opened them, staring at a spot on the floor between them, “Seems our blind friend is going to be a poet.”

“Friend?” Jinrai openly laughed, disrupting her hallowed silence, earning a somewhat glare from her that reminded him of a look she gave him years ago, “Since when is that word in your vocabulary?”

“Right next to informant and ‘inconsequential spy’,” was that actually a ‘smug’ smirk on the white-woman’s face? Directed at him? She really must have been tired.

Another boisterous laugh escaped the large man’s chest without his will. He really missed that little snap she used to show so often. Once calming his joviality his black eyes openly scanned the woman only a few feet from him. She seemed… different somehow. It had been a long time since she had openly joked with him like this, only in their neutral territory of course, and to even allow him to break her treasured silence with his normally so-loud laughter and speech? It was truly odd. The lord of the land of lightning had only one idea as to what had caused this.

“How is Yorihi’s progress coming along?” he wasn’t stupid and he hadn’t missed that slight shift in her stance as he said his adopted daughter’s name, nor the slight down turn of her lips even in this lighting.

Another rumble and flash of light outside their little world.

“She’s…” grey eyes shifted; even she didn’t know what to say. Unconsciously her hands tightened their grip around her arms. For a moment, Jinrai was sure he saw a normal woman standing in front of him, “there was an incident.” The large man turned directly to her, he was no longer ‘Gouzen Jinrai’ her childhood acquaintance, instead his eyes had steeled and become obsidian, he was the Raikage again. She looked away from him, if it was in shame, she did not know, “We have a Bakeneko on our hands here,” her voice was cool and crisp, Kemui the assassin was back as well.

The Raikage released a breath, “I know.”

“What?!” not the most intelligible thing to come out of the assassin’s mouth that was for sure, but the Raikage could tell this ‘lack of information’ was extremely offensive to her.

He closed his eyes a moment, “Bee informed me of it several weeks ago. It seems that by Yugito traversing further and further into her mind to talk with her demon, this… ‘Bakeneko’ seemed to have awoken, or was called to her,” the large man reached up and scratched his head, “Or something, that’s what Bee says,” he shook his head and stared at the woman directly, “What does this have to do with my daughter.”

Kemui couldn’t place it, but she knew that the tone in his voice had changed. He no longer spoke of Yorihi being his daughter as if it was a lie, somewhere along the way he had changed, and that had become a very prominent truth. Her proof, the way he was acting right now with the mere mention that something may have happened to her. – _So what does that say about what’s happening to me?_ \- her own inner turmoil about her actions during her first encounter with the ghost cat, how she’d acted…

The grey-eyed woman shook her head, “That… ‘ _thing_ ’ apparently made itself known to her, even acting as if it were to befriend her…” she couldn’t help the way she almost barked as she mentioned the cat, those demons just put her on edge, and to be so near her Lord’s daughter…

- _Again with the ‘friend’ word… twice in less than an hour? That has to be some kind of record…_ \- a slight smirk rose on the dark skin man’s face. He ran a hand over his blonde dreads, “You know there isn’t much we can do about it now,” his beady black eyes glanced at the imposing woman, looking at her a bit oddly. If he didn’t know this woman any better, he’d have thought she was getting testy over this ‘issue’… than again, maybe she was?

Kemui’s pale hands twitched, like she wanted to do something with them. She had to close her cloudy eyes a moment to rein in the odd amount of rash behavior she was showing, it wasn’t proper, “I hate those… ‘ _things’_ ,” she opened her eyes again, an odd looking steel in her eyes that Jin swore had hadn’t seen in years, “Especially since… since…” in a swift motion she couldn’t control her right hand reached out as a fist and hit the hard glass, not breaking it, but definitely sending a loud sound in the normal silence of her room. Her jaw was set and her eyes were closed tightly as she pulled the fist away, ignoring what little stinging was in it from the hit, trying in a partially failing attempt to control her breathing.

The Raikage could only raise a small brow at the white woman. He hadn’t seen her lose her cool since… well, _that_ day for one thing. His large form turned towards her more, examining the flustered way she was trying to hold herself back, almost like she wanted to run off the handle and tear a hole through an enemy base but was holding it all back, probably because it wasn’t ‘proper’ in her eyes. Again, he felt that little twinge to smirk at her. – _All this time… I thought I’d never see you again…_ \- resting his hands behind his back he took a step towards her.

The white haired woman took a deep, calming breath, noting lightly a low rumble outside. She opened her grey eyes to find the Raikage less than half a foot in front of her. She didn’t flinch, stir, or so much as react to his sudden proximity. All the assassin did was raise her head, and looked directly into the eyes of the man she served.

And he looked down at her. Not as the Raikage, not even as the young man that called her his closest confidant. He looked down at her as a man, his beady black eyes locked with her cloudy grey ones, and all he saw was a woman in front of him. Not that friend he’d lost, nor the assassin that served him, just a woman.

A flash from the storm outside shown on their features, bringing light to all the little details passing between them.

When it passed the man who called himself Gouzen Jinrai saw a growing confliction in the woman’s eyes. As if, for a moment, just a tiny moment, she was asking him to answer a question she didn’t know. And maybe, just maybe, that little bit of her old ‘defiance’ was in there, somewhere. His smirk softened, he was probably just imagining things. He took a deep breath and let it out slowly, “Just go check on her…”

Something akin to confusions flashed across her eyes for less than a moment, before those grey orbs narrowed on him just the slightest, almost accusing him in some manner.

His eyes just met hers, not accusing, not demanding, just open and neutral, “It’s your job to watch out for her,” there was the barest of tilting down from her head, again eyes slightly narrowing. With one last look he managed to pull his eyes away from her stern face and out the window. A small part of him glad to see her sharp bite back, if just a little, “This is the first thunderstorm that’s happened since she’s been here,” the assassin seemed to tense a moment, a peak on his left lip rose, “I’m sure she doesn’t understand it,” his black eye darted back to hers, “She might be a little scared…”

For a moment, just a moment, Jin was positive he saw a pout on her face.

That is, until the white haired woman from the north quickly turned on her heel and silently stormed out of her own room.

Jin turned as he watched her go, his mouth giving a gentler grin as he watched her pause a moment at the door, handle in hand and turned, before looking back at him with a unreadable mishmash of emotions playing in her cloud-colored eyes. In that moment it was like she had a million things to say, and not one of them was reaching to come out. She closed her eyes a moment, white brows slightly furrowing, before turning back to the door. Biting off a, “Of course, Lord Raikage,” before opening the door and closing it behind her.

The Raikage released a breath he didn’t realize he had been holding in as his shoulder slumped slightly. His beady black eyes stared at the door a moment, knowing it was better to leave her territory as soon as possible, but lingering enough to let her go. He reached behind his neck and stretched while rubbing it, “it certainly has been far too long,” that smirk that hadn’t left his face widened the slightest as he almost grinned with his eyes closed, “far too long indeed, Ne,” he looked behind him out at the storm, “Satsuki?”

\------

- _What had happened back there?_ -Kemui almost skulked down the hall. Would have openly if it wasn’t for the fact that she was in fact outside her room, she was ‘Kemui’, the Raikage’s assassin, not… not… whatever the hell else that had happened back there.

Her jaw clinched just a fraction, completely unnoticeable to any on looker, but the fact that she could feel it annoyed her. She was slipping, and Kemui did not like slipping. The slightest twitch in her right hand, thankfully she had enough control to keep the appendage at her side, there was no need to draw attention to her right side. No need to remember, no need to regret, no need to draw any attention at all!

Her grey eyes stared hard as steel down the dark hallway, right eye narrowing just the slightest at a far off memory. No, there was no need at all to remember anything like that. With sheer force of will the white-haired woman made her right hand still and kept her right eye open normally. The reminder was not necessary.

There was a loud clash of thunder, and the lightning poured in, even down to this secluded hallway.

That she didn’t so much as flinch at… it was high pitch scream from a little girl that set the assassin running. All the turmoil, all the angst, all the built up emotions from nights like this, and all of it washed away as her duty-bound instinct set through. Blank, empty, her mind had absolutely nothing to throw at her as she flew down halls silently to a certain door, where behind her charge should have been sleeping.

For whatever reason she paused in front of the door, mind still, body still, and the Raikage’s words drifting into her thoughts. “ _Just go check on her… it’s your job to watch out for her…_ ”

She swallowed hard as her hand hovered over the handle, only the slightest twitch to denote any kind of turmoil as cloudy eyes stared at the appendage. It was her right hand. – _What are you waiting for, open the door…_ -

With no emotion passing along her face the hand descended the meager distance needed to put enough force on the elongated handle and she heard the door click as the bolt was undone. – _Now push it open…_ -

She did, with as little effort as she had turning the handle, yet still the actions didn’t seem to register in her mind. The door began sliding open, just a crack and with no sound, and for a moment she wondered if the little girl inside would notice…

- _Step inside…_ -

There was a hesitation, a moment where the grey and black clad assassin stood there in the doorway to her lord’s daughter’s room, her hand removed from the door but both hand and eyes not moving as the wooden piece moved with the effort of gravity open. There was a slight creak, and it snapped her out of whatever it was that had ensnared her. cloudy grey eyes rose to see the door only a small bit open, and before whatever lingering doubts could settle in, before whatever these nights brought out in her, whatever her ‘ _old_ ’ self seemed to have to say could do anything, her left hand raised and opened the door fully giving her the view she didn’t know she had been expecting.

There, on a far larger then her four-poster bed was a large lump shaking under the dark blue covers, occasionally squeaking as lighting flashed or thunder roared.

Kemui blinked.

And for a moment, just a moment, she may have thought the sight was adorable…

Without realizing she had made a single step, the hardened assassin was at the edge of the bed closest to her. Her natural silence hadn’t alerted the poor frightened girl to her presence. Grey eyes stared over the shivering lump for a moment, the slightest of perking coming to the side of her lips. A long time ago, there was another little girl who used to hide under the covers because of thunderstorms too.

Kemui’s hand moved to reach out and calm the little girl when a slight movement catches her attention. Halting her motion on reflex her grey eyes zero in on the anomaly, and then swiftly narrow at what she finds. On the other side of Yorihi, sitting up straight staring from the small girl under the covers to the white-haired assassin staring at it, was the Bakeneko. The feline’s emerald eyes focused on the assassin’s grey ones, staring a moment with eyes narrowed, almost challengingly, before it glanced back at the little girl, lowering its large ears. A white brow rose at the ghost-cat’s actions just the slightest but the hardness of her stone-like eyes didn’t waver one bit.

Those eyes said one thing clearly. – _Leave_ -

The purple-black cat lowered its head and ears more, wrapping its forked tail around itself almost remorsefully. It spared the white woman one last glance, almost apologetic, before fading away and disappearing completely.

Her hands lay flat on the bed distributing her weight only slightly. She needed a moment, only a moment, as her grey eyes stared at the void space that monster of a cat had occupied. The slightest of tilting in her brows showed a resigned anger she forcefully dissipated. Yorihi didn’t need to see her like this… the idea itself _almost_ brought a snort from the white woman.

“K-Kemui-s-sama?!” there was confirmation in the little girl’s voice, and the white-haired woman had to bite back the urge to growl. – _Of course she can already see me…_ \- the assassin had to close her eyes a moment to focus, she didn’t need to slip any more then already in front of her charge. Unconsciously, her left hand clinched the comforter fabric before another bout of thunder shot through the room. Yorihi squeaked and seemed to shuffle around under the comforter, slightly whimpering but trying to cover it up.

Without knowing how, and only vaguely why, Kemui’s eyes softened on the large lump of the little girl under the covers. Her hand reached out and found the top of the little girl’s head, causing her to still for just a moment. This act of comfort from the little girl brought the edge of her lip up; she sat on the bed close to the little girl drawing her close in some manner of comforting her from the storm. Weather for Yorihi or herself, the assassin did not know.

“K-Kemui-s-sama…” the little girl seemed to squeak out, “C-can’t breathe…”

The assassin just blinked at the little girl a moment, not registering what she’d said. Then she quickly released her as her brain seemed to pick up on it. She moved back, giving the smaller girl room, and inwardly scolding herself for such a… ‘ _human_ ’ action… - _foolish…_ -

When released from her teacher’s embrace, Yorihi quickly pulled the comforter off. She hadn’t found anything wrong with what Kemui did; she just couldn’t breathe while being under the comforter and being ‘hugged’ by her teacher at the same time. The little girl, hair all over the place and her bandana hung around her neck, showing her active white eyes breathed deeply as she came out from under the covers. “Ah… t-that’s bet-ter… Kemui-sama?” the little girl stared at her teacher a moment. Something seemed off about the white-haired woman, her grey eyes were staring at the ground unseeing and she didn’t seem to be registering that Yorihi was staring at her.

The little girl tilted her head to the side, raising a midnight-blue brow, “Kemui-sama?” she disentangled herself from the covers and inched towards her teacher. She was only an inch from tapping the woman on the shoulder when a hand quick as light reached out and grabbed the small girl’s hand. Yorihi whimpered a moment, biting her lower lip, as the white woman seemed to have reflexively grabbed her harder than she ever had before. The little girl moved with the grab, trying to lessen it since she couldn’t move from the iron grip – _What’s wrong with Kemui-sama_ \- her active white eyes stared at her teacher, questioning as tears started to form in at the edges. – _I won’t cry, I won’t cry…_ \- she blinked back the urge and the tears, “K-Kemui-s-sama… what’s wrong?” her voice steadied at the end as she stared at her teacher as hard as she could, just like she would do during training.

The white-haired woman seemed to gasp as she breathed in deep, blinking away whatever had been passing over her eyes. She turned slowly to see the active white eyes of her student, obviously pained but biting it back. She blinked again obviously not understanding, grey eyes stared down and saw her hand, her right hand was a moment away from breaking the small girl’s arm. There was a small twitch in her left eye, and she hoped only she noticed it as she let go of the girl like she was on fire. She looked away, shifting further away from the small girl, “My apologies, Yorihi-hime…” both hands clinched the covers, what had she been doing…

The lightning flashed.

Little blue-black eyebrows furrowed, taking in the almost ‘skittish’ nature from her normally so ‘cool’ teacher. Her head tilted again, this didn’t make sense. – _Kemui-sama’s always so… so… what’s the word… ‘in control’?_ \- her eyebrows furrowed deeper, she didn’t quite know how to say it properly, but her teacher seemed to be acting funny.

Another look at her teacher, and the little girl nodded to herself.

The next moment had a small body flying at the assassin.

Due to instinct and training, Kemui turned sensing a kind of ‘attack’, her right hand bracing on the covers, her body turning to face it, her eyes focusing at the bodily projectile and her left hand hovering over the handle of her blade. In the next instance, she had a tiny three and something year old attached to her torso and her left hand moving away from her weapon. Grey confused eyes blinked at thin air, then looked down to see a rough bob of midnight-blue hair and scrunched tight eyes with tiny arms wrapped around her torso. The assassin had to blink again, yep, still there… - _she’s hugging me… I’m being hugged…_ \- she blinked again for good measure…

Right as the assassin was about to move the thunder decided to explode outside. Yorihi screamed and buried her head into her teacher’s armor, trying to hide from the devastating sound outside. Kemui stilled a moment, her hand hovering over the little girl. She was frozen, didn’t know what to do, a moment ago and her body seemed to instinctively know, now… now she was almost lost.

“K-Kemui-s-sama,” the little girl spoke barely a whisper as she whimpered from the volatile weather outside.

A small, gentle smile crossed the white-haired woman’s lips as her left hand rested on the small girl’s head affectionately, “I’m right here Yorihi-hime,” she rubbed her dark hair, noticing the shaking had stopped, “I’m right here and I’m not going anywhere,” a gentle shade came to the normally so hard eyes.

The little girl just nodded into her triangular flak jacket, not bothering to trust her tiny voice or move from her ‘safe’ position.

So for the rest of the night, Kemui, the assassin, sat there, comforting her small charge, keeping away the light and sound of the developing storm, both for herself and for the little girl in her lap named Yorihi.

\-----

The lighting flashed, and the black-purple feline didn’t sense anything from the little girl. Apparently, that white dog of a woman seemed to have chased away her fears better then the ghost cat could. Pity.

Batsuko’s ears perked, sensing the inner torments of another. A flick of its tail and the seemingly tiny feline was padding across a bed, to the troubled tossing and turning of the young blonde girl. Its emerald eyes stared down at her prospering face, and obviously pained features passively. It was used to this. The poor girl, container to the Nibi no Nekomata, and she couldn’t suppress the nightmares.

The dark colored cat nuzzled along her damp face, its chakra made body resonating with the will of the demon within the girl’s heart. It babbled a moment, curling as close to her as it could, wrapping its forked tail around her neck comfortingly, trying, as much as a beast of vengeance and torment could, to take away the girl’s fears.

The light outside flashed a moment, and in it a haze around the young jinchuuriki could be seen, the color of the shadow, and traveling towards the ghost cat on her chest. Batsuko turned, staring at the malignant energy, before furrowing its feline brows, its emerald eyes flashing a dark color, and in a moment the shadow dissipated into the ghostly feline. When it turned back to _its_ charge it noticed she was breathing easier.

The ghost cat stared at Nii Yugito a moment, its ears tilting down in a remorseful way, same as it had done to that white dog. This was all it could do… for now. It babbled a moment in its little cat noises before curling up under the young woman’s chin, hoping to keep further nightmares away.

After a moment a sleepy hand raised and pet the bakeneko, almost thanking it for its service.

\-----

Satsuki: 5th lunar month, month in the rainy season, May


	3. To Learn by being Run Over...

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Let's Play Tag! Yorihi chases Batsuko around the Tower... It terrifies Yugito.

“Hmm…” black eyes stared over a newspaper, somehow managing  both ‘ _lazy_ ’ and ‘ _intrigued_ ’, “Its quiet,” those thin eyes narrowed even more, adding ‘ _paranoid_ ’ to the look in them.

“Uh… Taichou?” a young dark skinned lad of about 17 looked at his superior.

“It’s too quiet…” the black eyed woman, named Gakushin Reki, folded her current entertainment and set it on the desk. She was 33 and at least a Jounin, since she sported an over-the-right-shoulder style partial white flak-jacket. A Kumo Hitae-ate hung lazily around her neck, almost defeating the point of the low cut and sleeveless gun-metal shirt. It showed a tribal tattoo that spanned from her right bicep to the base of her neck, the black lines giving a distinct contrast to the light tan of her skin. If one bothered to lean over the edge of the ‘greeter’s desk’ she sat behind, they’d notice she sported something of a black, woman’s version of hakama, with a white rope as a ‘belt’, only lacking the normal under pants, if the fact that a matching tattoo of her shoulder was shown so obviously on her bare left hip, straw sandals clicked as she habitually kicked under the desk. She had been working behind the front desk at the entrance to the Raikage’s tower for the past five years or so, she wasn’t exactly sure and didn’t particularly care. What she **did** care about was the fact that it was oddly quiet today. Her coal colored eyes glanced over wire-framed glasses back and forth along the inside of the empty receiving room as a light tanned hand snubbed out her dying cigarette.

“Taichou?” Kokuei, the current in a long line of _‘assistants_ ’ to the desk clerk, blinked his dark blue eyes at the woman as she raised her free hand and snapped her fingers in his direction. At his inaction the woman turned her rolly-chair in his direction and thin black eyes just stared at him.

“Assistant… cigarettes…” and since he didn’t move immediately a black brow furrowed in obvious agitation, “you get them…” it wasn’t intimidating at all that she crossed her arms and was tapping her foot. The clicking of the straw sandals on marble was rather nerve-racking.

“Ah! Uh…” the young man gulped as her normally so lazy eyes were boring into his brain rather demandingly, “R-right… Right! Right away!!” he gave an odd salute before disappearing in a cloud of smoke.

A light smirk rose on the woman’s face as she ran a bare hand through her long black hair and turned back to the front of the desk, “Hehe, gets them every time…” she reached discreetly under some papers that littered the front desk and pulled out what looked to be an old, old, half-filled pack of cigarettes with an open fan on the front. She rattled it a moment next to her ear before tapping the box causing one of the tobacco sticks to pop up, she grabbed it between her lips and pulled away the box, while simultaneously raising a cheap lighter and bringing forth a fat ember. The black haired woman leaned back in her easy rolly-chair, pulling up her glasses to sit on top of her head, and sucked deeply on the cigarette causing the ember to burn brightly before releasing a large smoke cloud through her nose. She stared at the fuzzy grey cinder fog, how she loved the small things…

“Nyaa~”

Black eyes blinked a moment. – _Was that a cat?_ \- she lowered her gaze without moving from her decidedly lazy position.

“Nyaa…” there was a black-purple tabby sitting on her check-in log with the oddest emerald eyes just staring at her.

Reki blinked again. Nope, still there…

“Ughh…” she leaned forward nearly bodily flinging herself at the cat. She landed with her elbows on the desk, feet flat on the floor, and staring face to face with the weird cat. Black eyes lazily staring into curious emerald ones. She snorted smoke at the creature.

Batsuko narrowed its eyes and flicked its ears disapprovingly.

“And what of it?” the desk clerk just stared at the cat, _almost_ daring it to do something as she enjoyed her vice a little longer. The cat turned away as she blew more smoke in its vicinity, it eyed her sidelong and she just gave it a wide grin. After its disapproving glare, the tabby’s ear twitched and it seemed to hop off her log and out of her sight. The black eyed woman leaned over enough to see it skitter across the main floor and down some hall, it looked like administrations…

She adjusted her glasses with the cigarette hanging lazily out of her mouth, “That cat had a forked tail…” she didn’t sound too impressed, “huh.” Ignoring that little odd mishap, she sat back and figured she’d enjoy this little reprieve from the normally so lively tower. Weird cats didn’t count as ‘strange things happening’ after all…

“Ah… ano?”

Was that a voice she was hearing now? She flicked her glasses back in their proper place and glanced around. Nope, no one around her desk…

“Excuse me?” that definitely sounded like a little voice…

Leaning back forward again, the black-haired desk clerk landed on her feet and stood leaning over the desk. Black eyes blinked again, there was a little girl dressed in a dark blue kimono with semi-short ink-blue colored hair kept out roughly, and what looked like tiny braids on both sides of her face between short front bangs and ones that naturally framed her face. A black brow rose – _Where have I seen braids like that before?_ \- the even weirder thing was that the little girl was wearing a dark blue bandanna around her eyes yet seemed to be looking up right at her. – _Or maybe she’s just looking in the way she heard noise?_ _-_

Reki pulled the cigarette out of her mouth and tapped it on the ashtray on the desk, “There something you need kid?”

The little girl seemed to lean her head down and touch her lip like she was thinking; the black haired Jounin couldn’t help but think it looked absolutely adorable, “Um… I’m looking for Neko-chan?”

A black brow rose as the little girl again seemed to be staring right at her, despite the obvious covering over her eyes, “uh-huh…” she replaced the cigarette, “This cat happen to be blackish with a funny looking tail?” the girl immediately seemed to smile brightly, shaking her head vigorously. Reki closed her eyes and took a drag on the cigarette, “Yea, saw it run down that hall,” she absentmindedly waved her hand towards the ‘administrative’ hall, “If ya want kid, I’d be more then… willing… to…”

Reki opened her eyes to find the spot previously inhabited by the little girl to be empty.

“T-Thank you!!” black eyes turned to catch the end of a tiny girl running around the corner she’d pointed to, hand waving back in ‘thanks’ and in no time was gone.

The cigarette hung loosely, “Huh… how’d she…” black eyes blinked a moment before she raised her hands, “Whatever, I’m not gonna think about it…” she sat back in a huff into her cushy rolly-chair and closed her eyes taking another long drag. No, that wasn’t unusual… nope, shouldn’t be…

“R-Reki-s-san!!” there were deep panicked breathes followed by that voice. Nope, it wasn’t her assistant, too high pitched and girly…

The normally so laid-back Jounin cracked her eyes open with her hand still covering her mouth from the drag. Black almost-glaring eyes stared at what looked to be a disheveled and almost scared looking Yugito. The girl was their second Jinchuuriki, and while she’d been quite a handful when she’d first come to Kumo, she had started shaping up to be a rather decent ninja for their village. Hell, Reki was currently sitting on a few of her reports from her first few solo missions right now, just had to process them… blue folder on her desk somewhere…

“R-Reki-san,” the blonde young woman took a deep breath and stilled her dark eyes on the very nonchalant looking desk clerk, “Y-you haven’t… happened to have… seen… a… uh… um…”

“Cat?” it was almost funny how flat that came out of the black haired and eyed woman’s mouth, even if she had yet to move from her position of just staring at the young woman.

“What?” Yugito blinked, “Well… yes, but also…”

“Little girl, about ye high,” with her free hand she gestured to about three foot something, “blind-fold?” thin black eyes just stayed narrowed on the young woman behind wire-framed glasses, smoke drifting up lazily from her cigarette.

The blonde noticeably gulped, and seemed to start sweating some more, “yes.”

Reki pointed with her cigarette holding hand, “That way…”

“Thanks Reki-san!!” the almost panicked blonde threw back as she bolted down the administrative hall.

Reki had turned in her chair and watched the girl sprint after the other two, a black brow quirking, “How does a should-be-Jounin lose a kid and a cat?” she sighed deeply closing her eyes before turning back to her normal position and resting for a couple of seconds. With her luck as soon as she opened her eyes someone else would be there. Slowly… ever so slowly… she dared to open her eyes.

There was a sharp face with grey eyes framed by white braids leaning on the top part of her desk…And for a second it looked like those pale lips were smirking at her.

Black eyes just stared, “Something you need, Kemui?”

White brow rose, almost smugly “Perhaps…”

Reki took a drag before snubbing out her current smoking joy. She sighed deeply, leaning back and stared at the white woman intently, before pointing with her thumb over her tattooed shoulder, “They went that way…”

“I know…” the assassin leaned over the desk nonchalantly and started twiddling with a pen.

Reki’s black eyes narrowed lazily as she slapped at the assassin’s pale hand, “Stop that… you’ll ruin my OCD…”

A white brow rose, but her hand noticeably stilled. Cloudy grey eyes glanced up into black ones a moment, “How’s the kids?”

Those thin black eyes narrowed, “Same as always,” she crossed her arms over her stomach, “You should try them some time,” she leaned back almost smugly, taking in the look on the pale woman’s face, “my boy’s all fired up about being a Genin and my little girl’s heading to the academy…”

Kemui seemed to stare absently down a moment, fiddling with the pen again, “Mmhmm…”

Black eyes stared listlessly, “Seriously, you’re screwing with my OCD…”

Grey eyes glanced at her for a moment before the white woman raised her shoulders the slightest and stood up straight. It was the closest anyone would ever get to her openly shrugging, something Reki found amusing. Kemui glanced down the hall the black haired woman had pointed at, “That way?”

“Yep,” Reki was in the process of sneaking another cigarette, lighting it with her eyes closed, “I don’t know what’s going on, but…” she opened her eyes and all she saw was smoke rising from the ember. Lazy eyes just stared at the empty space, “Damnit,” she took a drag leaning back in her chair with her hands resting lazily in her lap, “last time I say this place is ‘too quiet’.”

“Didja say something Taichou?” Kokuei reappeared next to his ‘boss’, holding a white grocery back that seemed to be filled with various packs of cigarettes, each with a folding fan on the front.

Reki turned a moment and stared at the young man, lit cigarette hanging loosely from her lips. She blinked black eyes a moment before turning back to her work, grunting out, “What took you so long?”

“Huh?! B-but I was-” the dark skinned young man tried feebly to speak in his defense before a blue folder went flying into his face.

“Go file that away under the Raikage’s private missions,” her eyes were nonchalant but something about the way they were staring at him made Kokuei gulp, nod out an affirmative and skitter away quickly.

As soon as her ‘ _assistant_ ’ was gone, Reki leaned forward on one arm and stared out the empty doors. Cigarette sitting loosely between her lips as her free hand fiddled with a certain pen.

\-----

“This is really dull,” Darui was walking down the hall of the administrative side of the Raikage’s tower. The young man, about 15, and short for his age, with his shaggy pale blonde hair just stared at the paperwork in his hand. It was a ‘requirements’ list of what he needed to acquire/accomplish before he’d be eligible for the Jounin exams. He closed his one visible eye and sighed deeply. He’d been a Chuunin for a while, with his ability and being the former Raikage’s apprentice he’d been too active to actually put any thought into what he’d wanted to do… plus with the whole take over nearly three years ago. – _I’m sorry Sensei…_ \- the dark skinned young man folded the piece of paper up and put it in his pocket, he didn’t have anything against the new Raikage, and since the guy _was_ his Sensei’s son it’s not like he should have been all that surprised about what happened… - _But still…_ -

While lost in his own thoughts, the young man didn’t notice the fork-tailed cat that passed him by…

… But he did notice when a little dark blue blur that ran just below his vision and he managed to turn just out of its way, “A-ah!”

What appeared to be a little girl turned while running at him, “Go-gomen!!” she yelled out before turning back down the hall.

Darui stared a moment, before his natural reflex kicked in, “Ma-mah! Sumimasen!” he did a little respectful bow in the direction of the little girl, not even noticing she’d already turned the corner. Sadly, this lack of notice resulted in him being barreled into at top speed by someone else.

“AAAAHHH!!” “WATCH OUT!!” **_BAM!!_**

Shaking his aching head, the young man noticed two things, 1. He was on the floor. 2. There were black eyes staring down at him. He blinked, then the remainder of his brain decided to kick in and an interesting amount of color entered his face as he realized who it was, “Yu-Yugito-san!”

The young woman just shook her head while standing up, trying to get her bearings. She scanned the hallway a second, not seeing anything before looking down at the young man she’d apparently ran over. If she’d had the time she probably would have apologized profusely while blushing from the embarrassment, currently Yugito was fearing for her life so that kind of overrode that reflex, “Hey, the little girl,” she said rather demandingly, making sure she had the young man’s attention, “Which way did she go?”

The prone young man was staring up at the young woman for a moment, parts of his mind still processing what just happened. He could obviously tell she was in a hurry, after all who runs into someone when they’re not? And she had asked him a question… little girl… Darui blinked, before the words could leave his mouth his hand absently pointed behind him.

The blonde young woman seemed to openly sigh, probably in relief, “Thanks…”

Then he remembered she’d run into him. Embarrassed he scratched the back of his head and grinned, “A-ah, Sumimasen Y-Yugito-san, about… the… whole…” by the time he opened his eye she was already down the hall. Damn.

Staring down the empty hall he immediately deflated, sighing to himself as he slumped on his elbows, “Maaan, that was so dull… so, so dull…” in a depressed slump, the poor young, confused, man debated about what he could have done better. Obviously, Yugito-san was in some kind of hurry, perhaps trouble, and that little girl was part of it… - _Perhaps she’s having to take care of her, and she got loose, and that means if she can’t catch her she’ll fail her mission!!_ \- The young man’s one visible black eye popped open in a sort of fear, “And I’m just sitting here!” in a moment of driven brilliance he hopped to his feet, fists pumped, “It’s my fault she may fail her mission! She may have lost a lot of time due to my tripping her!” no one could ever say Darui wasn’t a truly, fatally, sincere person…

Kemui just stared at the young man, her grey eyes blinking as she caught his black one for all of the two seconds it took her to walk casually past him.

Darui froze, blood both rushing to and away from his cheeks. Embarrassed for shouting to himself in the middle of the Raikage’s tower, and being caught no less, and having a sudden rush of fear as **_That_** woman just casually walked by him, being the one to notice his little outburst.

Kemui raised a white brow slightly.

Darui gulped obviously.

And the white haired assassin looked forward and continued on her way, not caring either way what the previous Raikage’s student was doing babbling to himself in the middle of the administration section.

The now pale young man released a breath he hoped wouldn’t get him killed. Reaching a hand over his heart he took several more breathes, “Whatever Kami is watching me today, I’m sorry, I’m very, very sorry for whatever it is I have done…”

“Dude,” Shii stepped out of the Admin. Office to spot his partner looking like he was having another ‘apology-induced’ heart attack, “Are you apologizing for breathing again?”

Darui slumped again, looking at his partner lazily, “That is so dull…”

\-----

Paperwork. The absolute worst, evil, deceptive, hateful, conniving thing to ever cross a Kage’s desk. If there was somehow a means to be completely rid of it and somehow managing to run a village still rather successfully, there would probably be world peace. It was a commonly held joke, especially in the Administrative division of the Raikage’s tower, that if there were no paperwork, then the Raikage, current and previous, probably wouldn’t have such tendencies to crush furniture, burst through walls, and jump from the highest tower down into the depths below the sky rise city… simply to have something _better_ to do. 

This was probably why the ‘current’ Raikage sent approximately 97.3 percent of his paperwork through his assistant, Joshu, first. Of course, this didn’t stop him from destroying his furniture, bursting through walls, and jumping from the highest tower just for the hell of it… but at least they knew it wasn’t because of the miniscule amount of _paperwork_ he did have to bother with.

Currently, Joshu, said questionably _sane_ Raikage’s assistant, was heading towards said man’s office with this month’s _stack_ of ‘need-to-be-legitimately-filled-out’ paperwork. The ‘ordinary’ looking Jounin walked down the hall confidently, after all this was a _normal_ occurrence, and it’s not like anything ever happens on the 7.8 minute walk from his ‘office’ to the Raikage’s throne-room.

The crescent scared man’s nose twitched, and he held his breath so he wouldn’t sneeze into the over-his-head stack of papers in his arms, no need to drop them and have them spill all over the hallway…

As he stood there he didn’t notice the black-purple cat streak by him…

He was in his own little world when he heard, “Hello, Joshu-san,” as he glanced over noticing Yorihi dodgingly skirting around him and running down the hall. He blinked behind black shades. – _That **was** Yorihi-hime, wasn’t it?_ \- a dark brow rose over those shades…

“OUTTA THE WAY!!”

The sudden shout from the other side of the hall caused him to reflexively jump… unfortunately causing papers to be thrown and fly all over the place. He had a second to see a blonde running at him with a disgruntled look before he did the first thing that came to mind… he dropped to the floor, just in time as Yugito long jumped over him and kept running like nothing had happened.

When Joshu raised his hands from his head he stared down the hall a second. Fixed his shades, quirked an eyebrow, and decided to ask the Raikage about it when he saw him. Then he noticed the papers all over the hall… he slumped, - _This may take a while…_ -

“He’s having a progress meeting with some of the elders, no need to worry,” Joshu raised his head and blinked behind his black shades, there was no way that _nice_ almost _caring_ tone was from who that voice came from… again he fiddled with his shades as he came eye level with a grey angled skirt and black biker shorts, a bit of dusting ran over his cheeks before white papers interrupted his vision, and his shades raised up the white papers, up the black glove, arm guard and all the way up to oddly looking _amused_ grey eyes. Joshu considered himself already a dead-man as he deftly took the offered paperwork from the assassin with an almost nonchalant look on his face, as if he had not just been looking at the woman in a rather inappropriate way…

Then she seemed to smirk lightly, and he knew she had to have killed him already…

So it was rather strange that she merely turned, perhaps in a purposeful way as her three thin braids smacked him in the face causing him to fumble and fall on his face. By the time Joshu managed to pick himself up off the ground and again adjust his shades, Kemui was gone, presumably down the same hall Yorihi and Yugito had ran.

He stared at all the miscellaneous papers scattered throughout the hallway and sighed… maybe Kemui should have just killed him…

\----

“No, I’m serious, Seichi, if you actually look underneath the plainly written words, there’s actually this totally ballin’ storyline that’s epically serious, and totally romantic, even to the point that a subtle guy like you would appreciate it…” Jimei stated loudly, shrugging both hands over his shoulders like he was completely exasperated.

Seichi just glanced down at him.

An oddly dark brow rose over closed eyes, “Okay… seriously, it is mainly about the porn…”

The red-eyed giant closed his eyes and sighed opening the door.

A purple-black cat passed by…

A little girl with dark hair and a bandana passed by after it…

“Ehh?” dark pierced brow rose higher, this time a sandy red brow joined it.

“Excuse me!” the two Jounin glanced down the other side of the hall, seeing a young woman with blonde hair in a cloud print high collared shirt, and looking like a real ninja, running down towards them. In tandem the two took a step back, flattening themselves against the walls as they watched the young woman with the twin-tailed pony-tail run by.

Platinum blonde bowl-cut and sandy red high-and-tight followed her path, a random hand thrown over her shoulder as an acknowledgement of thanks.

Jimei, being himself, waved back… with a stupid grin on his face.

Seichi just rolled his red eyes… turning slightly enough to notice someone else coming down the hall…

The large man straightened up, closing his eyes and bowing his head, “Kemui-sama…”

“Oooiya, what’cha talkin’ about, Seichi? There’s no way that was our BAMF commander-” the short platinum blonde turned towards his partner, before noticing one thing, “Er… Kemui-sama…”

Her grey eyes stared at her subordinate.

Jimei stared, closed eyed, looking more nervous… his brow twitched, “Ano…”

“Kemui-sama,” Seichi’s voice cut between the two, the grey-eyed woman turning her head back to him, an odd, subtle look in her eye that he couldn’t help but notice. He closed his crimson eyes, smirking, and nodded his head.

To his surprise, she smirked right back… before turning coolly with her eyes closed and continued walking along her path.

The stoic giant watched her go, while the twitchy midget was just gapping, “Was dat seriously our boss?”

“Shut up Jimei…”

\-----

“As you can see Raikage-sama our results have proven to be beyond out projected estimates,” the man in important regalia handed a folder in the large man’s direction. The hulking giant merely looked at the manila folder as if it offended him over his tented hand before his beady black eyes pierced into the man in front of him. The man gulped, at least he understood he should be afraid, “Uh… ahem,” he cleared his throat, withdrawing the folder and handing it over to an attendant, “A-as I was saying…”

Black eyes bore into him…

“Um…” he glanced around the table at the other members of the ‘council’, garnering mutters and skittish glances, no one liked to correct the Raikage, and certainly weren’t going to do it to the man’s face… he could crush any of them with a single hand.

“It seems your move has been played,” the deep threatening voice of the leader of the village hidden in the clouds rang out in the tense silence left open in the room. His eyes glanced at the man a moment, letting him fidget, before he stood abruptly; causing most of those seated to jump and the poor fool still standing to start sweating. The Raikage looked at him as if he were insignificant, civilian merchants typically brought that disposition out in him. He stared at the man squirming in front of him, he was an accountant of some sort right? Important, by his appearance and audacity to bring up this budget thing to him at the end of the meeting… young too, probably didn’t know all the ‘rules’ yet… yea, that was it… “Kaneda, right?”

The squirrely man gulp, “y-yes…”

“you’re new right?” the Raikage looked at him like he was bored, his attendants sighing behind his standing form as he nearly loomed over the smaller man… of course who wasn’t ‘smaller’ then him?

“Um…” was not an intelligent response….

A large dark hand came down on ‘Kaneda’s’ shoulder, making him wince at the ‘light’ force, hell he would have jumped in surprise if it hadn’t held him there.  It flexed slightly and he wondered if the bones in his shoulder would crack… were there specifically ‘shoulder’ bones?

“You’ll learn…” was all the large man had to say as he moved passed the bureaucrat, whom he felt could nurse his own fractured shoulder. The Raikage moved to the door that would let him leave this boring meeting, ponderings of why it was useful he attend such things come to mind as he had one of his current attendants open the door for him. He was Raikage damnit, he didn’t open doors… he burst through walls, jumped out windows and smashed furniture… he didn’t **_need_** doors. He rubbed his goatee in thought as the piece slid open without coming off its hinges. – _Probably should hold off on all the senseless destruction… it does cost quite a bit over time I suppose…_ -

“Nyaa~”

The large man looked down, hand still rubbing his goatee… there was a purple-black cat in front of him just outside the door… it had a forked tail…

The two stared at each other a moment…

“Neko?” slipped from the Raikage’s lips as the thing seemed to tilt its head, eying him with its strange emerald eyes before skittering off…

He rubbed his goatee in though, “Hmm…”

“Otou-sama!!” at the tiny voice, well tiny compared to him, it was actually pretty loud since the child was yelling down the hall… Gouzen Jinrai looked at his ‘daughter’ who was running at him, grinning a smile he would be proud of and waving her hand excitedly. A grin tugged at the edge of his lips and he was half tempted to let it show openly.

 He smirked, raising his hand to wave back.

“Hi Otou-sama!!” the little girl energetically waved, grinning at her father,  staring at him directly despite the bandana she wore, and after a moment was running past him, “Bye, Otou-sama!!” and was just as equally grinning and waving her father goodbye.

And his smirk had followed her, hand up uselessly still but up in a means of recognition.

“Sir,” a voice from behind him, one of his attendants, “was that…?”

A curt nod from the Raikage, both to answer the man and correct his own wayward actions, “Yes, that was Yorihi…”

“Shouldn’t we…?” the man questioned in hushed tones.

“No,” the large blonde’s voice was firm, if low, as his black eye glanced behind him to glare at the man, “If she’s out, then Kemui is not far behind,” he turned away, “She is fine…”

“Sir?” the man persisted but was silenced from further inquiry by a curt glance from his superior, and probably saved any more violence by the appearance a certain 17~ish year old blonde…

“Ah…” Yugito stood there, staring at the Raikage, mouth open and just gaping…

Ignoring the urge to pummel his ‘attendant’, the Raikage got the feeling he was being stared at. Turning he found Yugito, stock still and gaping at him. He quirked a small blonde brow not saying a word.

The young woman closed her mouth and looked excessively nervous.

Brow still raised, the Raikage just stared at her.

“Eh-heh-heh…” the teenaged woman laughed nervously as she slowly, _too slowly_ , walked past the large imposing man that was their village leader  like some cat that had something to hide.

After a few awkward paces the Raikage’s eyes narrowed, “Yugito…?”

The young woman startled for a moment, turning to face her lord, raised one hand and opened her mouth as if to say something… then turning heel and bolted down the hall that Yorihi had ran.

The Raikage blinked lazily down the hall, raising a hand to silence his attendant before the man even had the thought to speak. Turning around the large dark skinned man was unsurprised to already find a significantly smaller woman kneeling before him. He glanced at her, not in the hard way he did everyone else and perhaps that was enough of a difference, “Kemui…”

The white haired woman raised her head enough to look him directly in the eyes, cloudy grey meeting beady black eyes, “Yes, Lord Raikage,” there may or may not have been a small ‘skip’ in her voice and peak on the edge of her lips.

A small blonde brow was piqued, “I trust you have an explanation…”

The peak increased the smallest bit and her eyes became less cloudy, “Of course…”

Silence prevailed between the two as they stared into each other’s eyes, completely ignoring the small crowd of councilors and attendants behind the lord of Kumogakure.

“Hmp,” the Raikage smirked…

… and the assassin nodded before disappearing.

He grinned a moment before turning around to his current attendants and questioning councilors, specifically the one that questioned him, “Told you…”

\-----

“Hmm…” tiny black shades stared ahead, mouth pouting in concentration.

The other figure blinked.

“Hmmmmm….” The sound of thought processing started to become a hum, not too dissimilar too the whirring of a high speed shuriken.

_It_ glanced away as if unimpressed.

“Hmp!” Killer Bee slammed his palms flat on his knees, “What’s that pussy cat? Can’t take a stare back?”

The purple-black feline glanced back at the large me, seemingly glaring at his ‘challenge’.

Bee grinned widely, “Hehe, daz right,” he waved his hands up in the air, wiggling his fingers as if to imitate the Hachibi within him, “Cat got no fight, can’t beat this beast, knowing he’s gonna feast, gonna let loose and bring home the goose!!” The large man, caught up in his… terrible… rhyme, shot to his feet, holding his right fist up with his index and pinky fingers extended giving a sign reminiscent of bullhorns, “WHEEEEEEEEEEEEE!”

The cat sighed…

“Kemui-sama would say that was… um,” the little girl that ‘suddenly’ appeared put her finger to her mouth in thought, trying to remember the way her teacher always shot her uncle down, “‘while actually keeping a good rhyme for once, lacked any sort of sense or style’,” the little blindfolded girl used air-quotes as she crouched on her toes watching her uncle, grinning widely as he immediately deflated.

“Wha… whayy…” large dramatic tears seemed to be streaming down the large man’s tattooed face, “Home-girl… y-you betray your uncle…” Bee started wiping his arm across his face, adding to the exaggerated effect, “to… to… SISTA’!!”

Yorihi stared at her uncle, she had only wanted to banter with him and join in the fun, true using Kemui-sama’s take without her around seemed kind of silly now that she saw her uncle acting in such an… ‘uncool’ fashion. Her little mind started to panic, she wasn’t as familiar with playful deception so in her mind she had actually insulted her uncle, “N-no!” under the dark blue bandana her white eyes were wide, expressed greatly by how high her eyebrows shot up, “Oji-chan!! That’s n-not what I meant!!” the little girl was definitely panicking now, holding her hands clinched in front of her under her chin, not sure what to do to make her rather rambunctious uncle stop crying!

Bee grinned with his back turned to his little ‘niece’. In all honesty he thought it was hilarious that she’d attempt to ‘quote’ Kemui, which she totally wasn’t, Kemui would never, NEVER admit he did a proper rhyme… say he’s without sense or style, sure, but never say he actually did a **_good_** rhyme. He could sense she was thoroughly distressed by the matter and probably seconds away from jumping those eyes of hers into overdrive if she didn’t already have them active. Being the ‘cool’ uncle that he was, Bee flipped around striking a pose, “Don’t doubt little home-girl, your uncle will unfurl, gaining insight, and maximizing his might, getting pumped for the test, ‘cause only he is the BEST!! WHEEEEEEEEEEE!” again with the bullhorns hand gesture, only this time with a full on pose.

He looked down, expecting some kind of applause at least, only to see his niece was staring at him with unshed tears. The dark skinned man slightly deflated, “Er…”

Yorihi buried her head in her knees and seemed to be shaking.

- _Aw crap! She’s crying…_ \- the eight-tails jinchuuriki flinched. One, he hated seeing his niece cry, the mere thought sent him into a burning rage to horribly maim whoever caused it, currently Hachibi was rearing his horns about to gore his mental counterpart, the demon it seemed was as attached to the adorable little girl as he was. Two, he was deathly afraid of what his brother would do to him if he saw. And worst of all…

The blonde paled noticeably…

What would **Kemui** do to him if **_she_** knew…

A tiny man-squeal may or may not have escaped his lips. The bakeneko sitting behind him just shook its head in shame, to think this man was a container for an eight-tailed beast. Sensing his manliness was in question, Killer Bee rounded on the feline, pointing dramatically at it and shouting, “Got sumthin’ to say, pussy cat?”

The bakeneko, caught by surprise, screeched and leapt into the air with all its ghostly fur on end, landing on its four paws tensely with his black claws extended. Its emerald eyes were wide only a second before narrowing into a glare directed at the ‘human’ and arched its back spitting and hissing at him.

Killer Bee grinned triumphantly, posing in his mighty fashion at the finicky and furious feline, “Bwuahahaha!!”

Yorihi took this moment to glance around her uncle, completely ignoring his maniacal laughter as she distinctly swore she heard a ‘cat’. Blinking behind her bandana and garnering her bloodline trait for the moment, she spotted the arched and obviously irritated Bakeneko… unfortunately, depending on who’s view, she was a nearly-five year old with a singular mission at the moment, catch the ‘cat’, “Neko-chan!!” and proceeded to leap at the creature.

A distinctly feline yowl was heard yet again.

Some sort of scuffle ensued that left the mighty Bee-rapper completely confused, ending swiftly with Yorihi being somehow ‘deflected’ by the much tinier Bakeneko, which then gave them both this look before scampering off.

“Ah!” Yorihi quickly hopped to her feet from her prone form, completely ignoring the stuck staring form of her uncle, “Neko-chan!” and started after the creature again.

“Wait! Yori-chan!” at her uncle’s protest the small dark haired girl looked at her dark skinned uncle, he was pointing to the tiny shades he wore, a slight grin passing his lips, “Don’t forget!” he tapped his temple and his grin tripled in size as the pint sized girl’s hands immediately went to her bandana, ensuring it was indeed fastened in the right place. Killer-Bee gave her a once over before giving a wide-grinned thumbs-up, “Thatta girl! Git that cat!” the little girl grinned before bolting after the feline. A portion of Bee’s heart felt lifted – _She’s such a good girl, makin’ everyone smile with one of her own_ \- he reached up and removed his glasses for a second, rubbing the ‘dirt’ out of his eyes…

… only to open them and spot yet another ‘cat’, “Well, lookit that…” the large man raised a thin blonde brow as he watched Yugito, his protégé, scourer the area, her black eyes darting back and forth while her nose twitched _just_ the slightest every now and then. Bee grinned; proud that the girl was finally learning some of the things he’d been teaching, “Seems I got myself another cat…”

The blonde girl jumped at his baritone.

The larger ushi-oni carrier crossed his arms over his chest, giving the look of an imposing demon as he gazed down at the smaller woman from behind her, “Lose something, Yugito?”

The blonde tensed, and if Bee didn’t know any better, he’d have sworn her hair spiked just like a cat’s when surprised. She turned around slowly, eying him warily, obviously spooked, “S-s-sempai!”

A thin brow rose, the look on the girl’s face was definitely fear, but not the kind garnered by a simple scare tactic. No, this was the kind of fear one had when they screwed up and were trying to fix it before someone else noticed… someone like a certain someone who had a tendency to instill fear in the bravest with but a glance and was _awfully_ close with his niece… Killer-Bee grinned wide, not pleasant either as it showed his canines, no, he definitely looked like the ushi-oni in human form grinning down at the startled tabby, “Yugi-chan~!”

Said girl winced, she hated it when he called her that… and he only did that when he had something up his proverbial sleeve… she tensed more.

The fanged grin on the bull’s face seemed to widen impossibly so, “Missing something?”

If Nii Yugito were to look in the mirror at this moment, she would notice that the pupils of her dark eyes had shrunk to the size of a grain of sand. Thankfully she didn’t have such a device to distract her, plus she wouldn’t have noticed anyway as she seemed to just twitch before disappearing in a flash of light, presumably back on the trail of her wayward ‘charge’.

And Bee?

Why he busted out laughing as soon as she ‘bolted’ away.

“That wasn’t very nice…”

Killer-Bee hacked on his own saliva.

There was only ONE woman that could sound that crisp and cool, not to mention cause him to seamlessly go from laughing like a mad genius to choking on his own drool. Bee immediately turned around and stared at the intimidating white woman. If she could see his eyes she’d know they were narrowed on her, as it was she had to make do with his eyebrows lowering and knitting closer together, “Sista’ what’chu doin’ here?”

A white brow peaked and her head tilted slightly to the side and he was reminded of an attentive dog, “What, no attempt at butchering language in that dibble you call ‘singing’?”

The larger man pouted at her, “You suck,” she smirked as a response. Well, at least he knew it was the ‘real’ Kemui this time. The pout didn’t leave his lips but he did straighten up, arms reflexively crossed over his chest making him look bigger, “So what ya got goin’ on here sista’?” he pointed behind his shoulder at the way the other three went, “Seems to me ta be a bit more than just a case’a misplacin’ the little one and having them cats run ‘round like rats?”

“Internal rhyme, twice,” the edge of her lips twitched up in a semi-smirk as he jutted out his lower lip accentuating his pout.

“I ain’t askin’ you ta analyze my rap, just gimme the facts,” at the rise in her white brow the large tattooed man pointed a sturdy finger at her, “and don’t say it, I already know it’s a slant…”

That white brow rose just the slightest bit higher, “Intriguing,” her brow lowered and her smirk returned, “Didn’t realize you were actually paying attention…”

Bee’s shoulders slumped as he just stared at her, “How long I known you?”

Grey eyes blink, her mouth reflexively opened to give some witty retort, only to be forcibly close by sheer will as those cloudy eyes glared at the semi-behemoth before her.

Bee grinned; for once he was the one smiling while she, Kemui the Assassin, was left speechless.

The speechless assassin spared the bull one last glance before turning in her intended direction, the white wolf feeling no need to spare any information on her machinations to the Ushi-Oni.

“Hey, hey sista’ wait?” Bee jumped in front of Kemui’s path, hands up and prepared to defend himself if need be while her sharp steel eyes spared him a glance, “Since ya ain’t gonna let me in on it,” his brows lowered noting a glare from behind his shades telling her to not even call it when he was being serious, “I gotta ask you somethin’ first…” he stood up straight, looking her straight in the eyes. When the placated assassin continued to stare he assumed she’d given him her assent. A small frown pulled at the edge of his lips as his hands started to lower, “’Bout what I told you,” his face turned to the side slightly, “’Bout the cat… ya know…”

Kemui’s eyes hardened just the slightest, causing the semi-behemoth to flinch, “I’ve… considered your… ‘speculations’,” the grey eyed woman chose her words carefully, not even noticing as her left hand idly slipped near the handle of her blade.

“Hey, hey,” Bee’s eyes had followed her idle hand, “No need thinking like that, I’ve talked with her, just was trying to pull some things outta of her past, just sayin’ it was awfully coincidental, her holding that thing, how old she is and what happened with-”

The assassin cut him a sharp glare, hand firmly gripping her blade. She was a wolf in that moment, ravenous and feral, bearing her fangs directly at something that could crush her without care or restraint.

Bee gulped, he got the message.

Kemui glared a moment more, pausing only to remove her hand and turn back to her intended direction.

“Kemui,” said woman’s ear perked at the tone in the normally so jovial rapper’s voice, it was low, calm, and above all serious, “I ain’t suggesting she did it on purpose, or that it was even her,” her ran a hand over his braids, sighing deeply, “just that…” he openly frowned, “figured you’d wanna know if she might be rel-” Bee cut himself off this time, she was staring at him, but not like before, sure it was sharp like it always was, but something about it was different, almost solemn.

“Bee,” her eyes just stayed on him, sharp and serious like he was, “If you finish that sentence you know what I would have to do…”

“But-” he deflated when the smaller woman raised a hand to silence him. Her looked stayed on him a moment before the white woman turned away with the intent to leave the Ushi-Oni’s bearer. The side of Bee’s mouth dipped down into a pouting frown, just not understanding the woman sometimes, the words leaving his mouth before he even considered them, “Just figured she could use some family s’all…”

“If she truly were ‘family’, Bee,” the white woman said facing away as she casually continued her steps after her targets, “Then you know I’d have to kill her…”

And with those parting words the white woman from the north was gone, leaving the bearer of the Hachibi all alone in his thoughts.

\-----

“Gotcha’!!” the little ‘blind’ girl squealed as she held the ghostly cat close to her chest, so wrapped up in her excitement of finally catching the creature that she started jumping up and down giggling.

Batsuko, as it was, was looking rather dower and unexcited. Its large ears were flat out and its forked tail was hanging rather lazily, overall the creature looked exceedingly bored with the entire prospect. Sure, it was impressed, in some deep dark recess of its unusual being; more so that the little girl was actually ‘giggling’ at her success then the fact that she actually caught it. It was ‘playing’ nice after all…

Yorihi held the cat’s head under her chin, holding it loosely around the chest, its feet dangling, as she felt the whiskers of its eyebrows moving back and forth on her chin. She snorted from the sensation, the cat followed in kine for an entirely different reason. She ‘glanced’ down at it, not really seeing anything since her eyes had switched into the ‘off’ position, them being ‘on’ so long giving her a bit of a headache, but with the disuse was waning, “Ne, Neko-chan?”

The cat snorted again, emerald eyes just staring forward. Oh the indecency, such a creature as it being ‘nuzzled’ by a four and something year old…

And nuzzle she did, Yorihi snorted again at the whiskers tickling her face. The little girl couldn’t help but grin as she plopped down on the wooden floor, not moving the cat from her current hold, “that was really hard,” she tilted her head down, causing the cat to growl slightly at the added ‘weight’ on its head, not that the little dark haired girl noticed, the whiskers were tickling her nose, “you hide a lot better than Otou-sama…”

The cat’s ear twitched, being compared to a human now…

The twitch of the dark murky colored feline’s ear caused the adjacent whisker to move just the same, which tickled the little girl’s nose now, resulting in the obvious…

“AAAAACHOOOO!!!”

Yorihi sneezed.

Batsuko glowered ahead of it, twitching its ear again in something similar to ‘annoyance’… ‘resigned annoyance’.

“There you are!” the next second had Nii Yugito literally ‘bolted’ in front of the awkward pair.

The cat continued glowering…

Yorihi blinked her ‘enhanced’ sight ‘on’, it wasn’t quite a ‘full’ activation of the Byakuugan, but rather a short ranged one, allowing her to see in a relative straight line in front of her. It wasn’t as good as ‘normal’ sight, being a limited funnel view that only lasted for a few feet, but it allowed her a short distance glance past her bandana. When she told her Teacher about this, the woman gave her an astonished look, honestly surprised that a four year old could come up with an ‘alternate’ use of the Byakuugan and not even have a vague understanding of what chakra was beyond ‘that weird blue fire stuff’ she saw when ‘the world went black’, as she put it. The only real use Yorihi could come up with for this ‘enhanced’ sight was that it allowed her a quick view beyond her bandana, and didn’t make her anywhere near as tired as the ‘normal’ activation did, plus it took her far less practice to get a handle on it, whereas the ‘on’ switch for even the basic activation of the Byakuugan was _still_ sketchy at best, and she wasn’t even going to consider getting a hang on the ‘blue-fire vision’ yet.

Kemui explained it to her that it was probably just her adaptation to constantly being ‘blind’, her eyes desiring a way to ‘see’ and providing a simpler version for now. What Kemui didn’t tell the small girl was that the assassin hypothesized that this ‘stunted’ version was probably part of the ‘normal’ development of Byakuugan control, just that since it was so limited and over all useless beyond seeing through something five feet in front of you, the ‘Hyuuga’ probably never considered it beyond a basic stepping stone, abandoning it once the full version was attained. Of course this just brought about all sorts of machinations from the white woman, causing her to develop all sorts of ‘games’ for the little girl to play while using this vision, it never occurred to her that her Teacher was both studying her and testing her at the same time.

But back to what she saw through her ‘limited’ view…

In front of the little blue-black haired four-something year old was Nii Yugito, 17~ish, wearing what seemed to have become her standard cloud print shirt with grey-blue capris, having blonde hair done in a twin tailed pony tail and black eyes that looked amazingly frightened and staring at the cat in Yorihi’s arms. Yorihi didn’t know if it was something wrong with her sight but it looked like the young woman’s left eye was twitching, the only time she’d seen that was when Kemui-sama and Oji-chan were arguing and making her father’s head hurt…

“What... are… you… doing!” she said the words slowly, mainly staring at the cat, the words increasing in pitch until the last one came out as an almost whine.

The cat flicked an ear under Yorihi’s chin, snorted, and began a series of babbles that caused the little girl currently holding the creature to try to look down to stare at it. One of her blue-black brows was piqued. – _Neko-chan… talks?_ \- of course she didn’t understand the creature, but with the insistent way it was ‘babbling’ that was the only thing she could make out of whatever it was doing…

A deep sigh came from in front of her, the little girl peeked up noticing the older woman had slumped with her head bowed and arms just dangling, looking utterly defeated, “That doesn’t make any sense…”

The little girl’s brow stayed piqued as she tilted her head slightly, “Ne,” when a black eye under blonde bangs looked her way she continued, “Nee-chan, you understand Neko-chan?”

“Nee-chan?” Yugito looked at the Raikage’s daughter queerly, since when was she considered a ‘sister’? then the rest of the little girl’s comment made it through her frazzled mind, “Neko… _-chan_?” she looked at Batsuko, blinked, then a side of her mouth twitched, threatening to turn into a sly mocking grin.

Unusual emerald eyes just glared deeply at her, _daring_ her to start…

The young woman snorted…

The cat glared deeper…

It was inevitable, after hearing the thing that half the time tormented her and spent the other half causing mayhem called ‘-chan’, by a little girl no less… well…

Yugito started laughing…

Batsuko did not approve.

Yorihi’s head tilted further, “Nee-chan?”

Yugito had straightened up, some, and had futilely put her hand over her mouth to try and stem the onslaught of laughter brought about by the idea of _THAT_ cat being considered ‘cute’.

Yorihi blinked, which didn’t do any good since it was covered up by her bandana, but she did it anyway. What did she say that caused Yugito-san to start… ‘ _giggling_ ’ like that. It was weird, the few times she’d seen the young woman she’d always been so uptight, quiet and usually off to the side behind her uncle, as if trying to be as little noticeable as possible. Now this?

“S-sorry,” the blonde waved her free hand, quelling the laughter since she was still getting that glare from the Bakeneko and for all she knew was freaking out Yorihi, and freaking out Yorihi was never a good thing… there were various consequences, most involving superiors of hers that were quite deadly and emotionally unreadable… that train of thought stopped all laughter as the young woman paled remembering **_why_** she had been chasing ‘her’ cat and the Raikage’s daughter around all day. – _Fuck!_ \- was her only thought as she tensed yet again looking at the two…

“Ne, Nee-chan?” the little girl’s words snapped the woman out of near catatonia, the little girl was ‘looking’ at her, she was holding Batsuko out at arm’s length towards her, the cat looked none too pleased but made no motion to correct it, “Is this Neko-chan yours?” again the little girl’s head tilted, it was so cute.

Yugito gulped, absentmindedly reaching out, “Y-yes,” – _Sort of…-_ was her added thought, “H-his name is Batsuko…” when her hand was no more than an inch from the little beast ‘he’ glared at her more, “Can I have him back?”

“Um…” the little girl in the bandana seemed to ‘look’ at the cat in her hands, head still tilted as if confused, “Okay,” she moved to release the cat into the older woman’s care, only for ‘Batsuko’ to leap out of the girl’s lessened grip, vaulted back off of some mythic air and landed defiantly on the little girl’s shoulder, staying out of reach of its ‘master’.

Yugito’s extended hand clinched into a fist as her dark eyes glared at the cat’s smirking ones.

“A-ah, Neko-chan!” the little girl started, feeling as the thing left her grip and landed softly on her shoulder. It was strange, in her grasp the cat had been so heavy, yet with it lingering along her entire shoulder it seemed so light, no more than the weight of four feathers where its paws sat, its head reaching around her own and she could feel its long furry ears against hers, its forked tail idling on the other side, brushing slightly against her cheek and neck. This of course caused the inevitable, “H-hehe,” the little girl started giggling at the cat’s absent actions, completely deflating the ‘serious’ atmosphere going on between ‘pet’ and ‘owner’.

At the sound of a little girl giggling, the two cats deflated, Yugito sighing openly and Batsuko rolling it’s strange emerald eyes.

Yugito stared at the little girl in front of her, it was strange, strange indeed that Batsuko would _willingly_ let anyone touch it, but to be grabbed, held, and now sit on this little girl’s shoulder? That was as likely as a snowball surviving an hour in hell. It just couldn’t be happening... yet, here it was, in front of her, Nii Yugito, container of the Nibi no Nekomata, and the personification of her ‘other’ half was sitting on a little girl’s shoulder, perfectly content, almost bored, as it started preening itself. – _What is it about this little girl…_ \- her dark eyes narrowed, not suspicious or threatening, just curious, trying to find that one little detail she was missing that would explain why her ‘cat’ had such a fixation about her. Nekomata were dangerous creatures, namely tricksters, but Bakeneko were creatures of vengeance and in a twisted sense ‘justice’, was there something about this little girl that required some form of ‘vengeance’? Yugito watched as Yorihi pet Batsuko, scratching its ear and poking at its tail as it swished it at her… there just couldn’t be…

“Yorihi-sama,” Yugito said carefully, garnering the girl’s attention.

“Hmm?” the bandana wearing girl ‘looked’ up at the older girl, curious about what she wanted, she was having fun playing with ‘Neko-chan’.

“May I have Batsuko back?” the Nibi container reached her hand out again, trying to coax the finicky cat back to her.

“Um,” Yorihi turned her head towards the cat on her shoulder, it snorted, “S-sure, if Bachiko-chan wants…”

“Batsuko,” the older woman couldn’t help but correct, “His name is ‘Batsuko’…”

“Bachiko?” Yorihi repeated, not understanding her mistake.

“Batsuko… Ba-Tsu-Ko,” the blonde blinked at the little girl, of all the times for her to act like a child her age, she has to do it by mispronouncing a potentially dangerous creatures name…

“Ba… Chi… Ko?” again Yorihi blinked behind her bandana, causing her brows to furrow, she didn’t get it. There was a funny sound coming from her right, and she realized it was from the cat on her shoulder, it was a weird ‘hissing’ mixed with growling, but after a while she realized the cat was ‘laughing’? “Bachi-chan?”

‘Bachi-chan’ babbled, enjoying this play on words, flicking its tail around amused as Yugito flustered.

“Ugh,” she felt like ripping her hair out, “Fine,” no sense correcting a child that didn’t understand, nor continue and amuse ‘Bachi-chan’ any further. Dark eyes glared at the cat, “So glad you’re enjoying yourself…”

The cat gave a bizarre Cheshire grin.

Yugito ran a hand through her blonde bangs, whatever it wasn’t her problem, the cat could be called whatever it wanted, it didn’t matter, not to her, no, not at all… she grit her teeth, “Whatever, Batsuko, Bachiko, doesn’t matter,” she looked down at Yorihi with her hand still in her hair, mouth in a slight pout, “I need to get you back before anyone…” her thought process paused as she realized she’d passed everyone of importance just trying to catch the girl… well, _ALMOST_ everyone, “Before Kemui-san,” she amended, “Finds out…” – _Not that the Raikage or Killer-Bee-Senpai won’t tell her anyway…_ -

“Before I find out what?” came a lilting voice not far behind the Nibi container.

Yugito froze, tense, probably just _slightly_ more so than when Senpai had done that… besides, Kemui’s shorter, she can’t be _that_ much more imposing… the icy chill that was running up and down the young woman’s spine was telling her otherwise. Slowly, ever so slowly, Yugito’s head turned to look over her shoulder…

And there, standing not five feet from her, in her normal regalia, and having the barest of amused grins on her face was…

“KEMUI-SAMA!!” came a little girl’s glorious shout.

Whatever strenuous atmosphere had been was entirely shattered as Yugito nearly fell over from the ‘almost’ heart attack she was currently having. Yorihi didn’t notice as she was running towards her teacher, big bright smile all across her face, while Batsuko glanced over its shoulder, an amused grin on its features at its ‘master’s’ dismay at the sight of that dog.

In a bizarre act of humanity, at least in Yugito’s point of view, Kemui, cold, scary, emotionless Kemui, killer-assassin-extraordinaire with no equal, kneeled down in front of a four and something year old coming at her with an almost… ‘motherly’ smile on her face. Yugito couldn’t help that she was openly staring; her mind had crashed a moment ago and was still trying to process what she was seeing. It just DID _NOT_ make sense.

And in a moment, the look was gone, and Kemui the stoic Teacher was back in place.

Yugito had to blink several times, not even sure what she had seen had been real or some delusion brought on by all this stress…

“Kemui-sama!! Look, look, I caught him!!” the little girl somehow managed to grab the cat, who had tried valiantly to jump _away_ but came up short as ‘he’ was held out at arm’s length by the little girl towards its most greatest nemesis as of current, that dog woman.

Batsuko snorted at the woman mere inches from it.

Kemui’s cloudy grey eyes looked straight into the cat’s unusual emerald ones, an _almost_ gloating look in them, “I can see that Yorihi-hime,” she stood up, sparing the necromantic feline the decency of not petting it like some lowly house pet, she did on the other hand place her hand on Yorihi’s head, slightly ruffling her hair, a subtle proud smile etched on her features, “I’m glad you are advancing so well…”

With such praise, the little girl couldn’t help but give a wide grin that would make her father proud.

Yugito, seemingly forgotten for the moment, baring witness to such an _endearing_ scene just stared. Kemui seemed… almost… just almost… - _Human?_ \- The young woman blinked, that couldn’t be the same woman, right? The one that always shot down Senpai’s rhymes, chided the Raikage about odd details, the one who showed absolutely no emotion or remorse as she mechanically reported a successful assassination of a high priority, not to mention extremely well-guarded, target.

A more obvious smirk came over the white woman’s face, the one normally reserved for when she shot down one of Killer-Bee’s rhymes, as she removed her hand and poked Yorihi on the forehead, eliciting a pout from the little girl, “But there’s always room for improvement.”

The little girl’s pout seemed to increase, “Kemui-sama,” she whined.

That amused smirk seemed to stay in place a little while longer, “Go along, you have reading material you need to study...” the little girl groaned, but the assassin seemed immune to it, “Go on, back to your room, the scrolls are there already,” the white haired woman patted Yorihi on the back, scooting her along towards the direction of her room.

Yorihi moved all of five steps before turning back to her teacher, who hadn’t seemed to move an inch, curious she put that away for later, for all she knew her teacher wanted to talk with Yugito-chan, “Ne, Kemui-sama?”

A white brow piqued, “What have I said about asking like that?”

The little girl toed the ground, “B-but Oji-chan uses it all the time…” there may or may not have been a whine the little girl’s voice, “and it sounds cool…”

“’Cool’ or not,” Kemui’s face ‘looked’ stern, and while grammar had obviously been something she’d been trying to teach the little girl, even she, on some level, found it amusing that she, a previous heiress and current daughter to a Kage, was wanting to learn slang from her uncle… and thought it was ‘cool’, “You know your uncle, while… ‘well-meaning’,” finding the right word for ‘utterly disastrous and ear rendering’ that wouldn’t upset her lord’s daughter was rather difficult, “doesn’t have the best grasp of ‘proper’ language.”

The little girl put her lower lip out in a pout, Yugito couldn’t help but think it was absolutely adorable, “Hai, Kemui-sama, but…” she tilted her head up in her teacher’s direction, not sure if she should continue.

The white woman nodded, giving her silent assent.

A smile started picking at the little girl’s lips, “Can I take Bachi-chan with me?” she pointed at the _still_ scowling cat in her arms.

Batsuko snorted.

A white brow rose slightly, “You’ve already caught him, correct?” Kemui could tell the little girl was blinking surprised under her bandana, her eyebrows seemed to twitch just the slightest bit when she did so, “For now he’s yours to do as you see fit with,” the _slight_ grin she gave may or may not have been _slightly_ feral. She loved her lord’s daughter, and despised that cat on some level, but she did _‘trust’_ it, if begrudgingly, to be allowed in the small girl’s presence. It had yet to try anything to harm the girl, if it truly wanted to do something; it would have done so by now.

And just like that, the little girl’s smile lit up like the shining sun. She gripped the ghostly cat just a bit tighter, “Don’t worry Yugito-Nee-chan, I won’t do anything to hurt Bachi-chan!!” and with that the little girl was off, presumably to her studies.

At least Kemui hoped so, she’d have to deal with this odd behavior early on, to make sure the girl stayed diligent and focused on her improvement, and thusly making the Assassin’s ‘teaching’ job just the slightest bit more effective, if not easier. The white haired woman turned back to the quiet girl her charge had spoken to, not forgetting the young woman’s presence for a moment, “Trust, she won’t do anything to… ‘harm’ your ‘Bachi-chan’?” that small almost-mocking smirk was back on the white woman’s face.

“Batsuko,” was the first thing out of the nearly catatonic young woman’s mouth, “The cat’s name is Batsuko…”

Kemui gave her a look that said the woman already knew, “Killer-Bee has told me about that… ‘creature’ some,” her grey eyes sharpened just slightly, “Its name, its connection to you and the Nibi,” the woman’s eyes narrowed a fraction, and if Yugito hadn’t been staring at her she wouldn’t have even noticed. Kemui’s left hand twitched as her eyes looked away from the Nibi’s container, “But I also know you, Yugito-san, you have done quite well in your own progress, and that thing hasn’t made a move to harm Yorihi-hime so far…” the added threat didn’t need to be said, Yugito knew full well just _who_ would be the one to pay if Batsuko did so much a nick the girl with its claws.

The Nibi container gulped.

The white wolf stopped glaring at the frightened tabby, an almost ‘amused’ smirk coming to her features as she half turned towards the direction her charge went, “And don’t take the whole ‘Bachi-chan’ thing seriously,” there was something that sounded almost like a short laugh but Yugito wasn’t sure, “Ever since I started teaching Yorihi-hime how to write she’s gotten this strange habit of swapping the sounds of characters in a way _she_ thinks is better,” the way the white woman’s brows furled made it look like she was being ‘apologetic’ but that didn’t make sense.

“Huh?” there was more than one reason that escaped the blonde’s mouth.

Kemui gave the barest of sighs as she crossed her arms, “’Chi’ and ‘Tsu’, two sounds that use the same character,” she gave the barest of shrugs, “I’m not sure if Yorihi realizes she’s doing it at all really, but apparently she thinks ‘Bachiko’ sounds better so that’s what she’ll probably call that cat from now on…” almost snort, “Well, more than likely ‘Bachi-chan’ as she seems already accustomed to…” something about her look became predatory again and Yugito knew if she had fur it’d be standing on end in response, “Right, ‘Yugito-nee-chan’?”

The young woman blushed in embarrassment, “I don’t really know why she said that…”

“It sounds fine to me,” Kemui was now looking fully in the direction the little girl had gone, completely away from a rather stunned Yugito, “If she feels the need to call someone something sincerely, then she respects you and feels you deserve it,” when the white haired woman turned back to the blonde something about her look seemed ‘softer’, “If you’d like, I would not be opposed to having you around her more often,” the look in Kemui’s eyes hardened just slightly, “The girl needs to become more familiar with other people, it’s not healthy for her to only know Killer-Bee, Lord Raikage, and myself…” there was a slight tilting to the edge of her lip, “I’m actually surprised, of all the people that saw her today, only you were the one that seemed to register that something was wrong about a little ‘blind’ girl running around the tower chasing an odd ‘cat’.”

The light color on Yugito’s cheeks increased, was she being ‘praised’? By Kemui of all people?

The white woman stepped closer to the blonde, “This chase was an exercise in more ways than one,” the woman’s eyes were sharp again, “Initially it was a way to test how Yorihi-hime would act outside her room, as well as the obvious exercise of her progressing ninja ability, tracking, finding, and detaining that feline…”

Black eyes widened, “You’re already teaching her such things?”  Yugito was flabbergasted, this-this _woman_ was already teaching that small girl to be a hunter nin? Why would she…

The sharpness in the woman’s eyes increased, “This ‘training’ for her serves several purposes, teaching her basic skills like that,” the edge of the woman’s lips tilted down, “Although I will admit I should probably start teaching her stealth tactics for next time,” with a shake of her head the side thought was stored away for next time.

“Next time?” Yugito gave the woman an accusing look. – _Is she serious?_ -

A white brow piqued slightly, taking the assassin away from her thoughts, “as I was saying, this ‘training’ also lets the girl get exercise to help build up her physical prowess, tell me,” those sharp eyes narrowed on the tabby, “How long had you been chasing her down?”

Immediately the younger woman’s mouth opened to form some kind of protest but the question took her off guard. How long had she been ‘chasing’ the girl? “An hour, maybe a bit more?” at first the blonde didn’t understand, then slowly it dawned on her, since when could a four year old run straight for over an hour? Wide surprised black eyes turned to the white woman.

An _almost_ smug look came over the woman, “She’s been playing ‘tag’ with her father for the past several months, she’s become quite proficient at both ‘tagging’ him and keeping away,” that ‘proud’ look came over the assassin’s face again, “Always getting better and lasting just a bit longer each time…”

Yugito’s mouth was just hanging open, she couldn’t believe this woman, “You’re insane,” her hand immediately went to her mouth the moment her brain registered what left her mouth. Again, wide black eyes stared at the assassin, not sure what to expect from her comment.

Kemui showed no emotion, “Progress is progress,” a light lifting of her shoulders reminiscent of a shrug, “Her father approves, as it lets him both enjoy his time with _his_ daughter and help ‘train’ her at the same time,” those grey eyes became sharper, “As far as Yorihi-hime is concerned, all these ‘exercises’ are merely her chance to play…”

Black eyes blinked, “You’ve made it so she ‘enjoys’ training,” and it dawned on Yugito, this woman wasn’t insane, she was efficient, taking something a child likes to do and using it to her advantage, “That’s genius…” again the words slipped from her mouth before she had a chance to register them, but this time she didn’t bother trying to hide them.

“That’s what Lord Raikage thought when I suggested such a thing,” again, that _almost_ smug look came over the white haired woman’s face, “Now, Yugito-san, as I said earlier, that exercise was for more than one reason, and wasn’t simply to let Yorihi-hime ‘play’ with that cat…”

“You wanted to see how the people would react to her presence,” Yugito was lost in her own thoughts, crossing her arms over her chest and propping her chin on one hand as she thought, “a little girl most had never seen or heard of, only those of us close to the Raikage would even know her, so…” the young woman blinked when she noticed the assassin’s eyes on her, appraisingly, the younger woman gulp nervously, “Y-you’re were trying to gauge not only other’s reactions to her but hers to others as well, weren’t you? To see if she’d be safe outside…”

“I’m impressed,” that almost approving look was on the woman’s features, making Yugito not sure what to think, “Yes, most of what you said is true, as I said earlier I was curious to see how she’d react outside her room, out of my supervision.”

“Wait,” something seemed to just register to the Nibi container, “You’ve been watching this whole time?!”

The assassin didn’t even dignify that with a response.

A blonde brow twitched, “You mean I’ve been freaking out over that little girl, that she was out, chasing Batsuko no less, that she’d somehow ‘escaped’ and that you would murder someone if you found out…” the look on the assassin’s face didn’t change, _almost_ verifying that suspicion, “for NOTHING?!” her fingers and eyebrow twitched more.

“I wouldn’t say nothing,” the white woman gave a blank look to the younger woman, “You provided the ‘pursuit’ team she had to stay away from, if anything you inadvertently ‘helped’ her training,” Yugito just twitched, not taking that as any sort of compliment, “Also, from what I could tell Yorihi-hime thought you were playing along, you’ve gained her trust, that’s why she called you ‘Nee-chan’…”

Yugito blinked, she hadn’t even considered that, “so…?”

A much less menacing look came over Kemui’s features, “As I said, if you are willing, I would not be opposed to you… ‘joining’ our sessions.”

Black eyes blinked, she was… ‘Approved of’ by the little girl, and therefore the assassin? Yugito opened her mouth to say something but not left it, closing it she tried again, “I-I… I don’t know what to say…”

A slight smile came to the older woman’s face, “Then don’t say anything at all, and follow me,” with that the assassin turned heel and began the walk back to her charge’s room, leaving the decision to join her, leave, or stay entirely up to the young woman behind her.

Yugito blinked, - _D-did that really just happen?_ \- she looked down at her hand, that was her hand, it was fine, she could feel both it and the Nibi’s power boiling under the surface. Being around Kemui made her nervous in a way she couldn’t describe, but being around Yorihi, while nerve wracking, had been… “Nice,” Yugito said to herself, close her open palm into a fist. She let the appendage drop to her side, quickly taking off after the assassin.

\-----

The night air was brisk, the cold chill of winter was coming, with it the high snowed peaks and a whole different set of perils that would have to be faced. Kemui stood on the open balcony, overlooking a deep chasm, but it wasn’t down that she was interested in, but the clear night sky, lit up brightly by the large moon high above. Fall was a season she could enjoy, and with all that had been happening, perhaps it would become even more memorable this year…

The assassin shook her head, such thoughts needed to leave her; it was making her dull…

“Are you out here sulking again?” a voice called from behind Kemui, grey eyes turned finding the bright ember of a lit cigarette. Reki stood not far behind her, looking bored while holding an ash tray, “I know that look, it may have been awhile but I remember when you used to come up here looking like that, thinking about something sweet only to beat yourself up about it thinking it was stupid,” it was strange how a cheeky grin could accompany those bored, uninterested eyes and somehow keep the cigarette from falling.

Kemui’s eyes stayed on the dark haired woman, _almost_ glaring.

“Oh don’t give me that look,” Reki stepped closer snubbing out the dying ember, coming up on Kemui’s left and placing the ashtray on the balcony’s ledge. With practiced ease the black hair and eyed woman pulled out a half-empty pack emblazoned with the open fan symbol crinkled on the front, grabbing another death-stick and lighting it up, and taking a long drag with one hand, the other cocked on her hip.

The two didn’t look at each other, didn’t even say anything for a long time.

“I need you to look something up for me,” Kemui’s hushed voice was the one to break the silence, but she didn’t look at the older woman next to her, just continued to lean on her arms now staring down into the abyss below.

“Figures,” Reki didn’t move as she felt those grey eyes glance ever so slightly her way, “First time you decide to contact me in years,” she closed her eyes, flicking the ash off her latest cigarette, “It’s when you decide to do something stupid…”

Grey eyes stared forward, “This isn’t like last time-”

“I didn’t say anything about last time,” while her voice carried no more inflection then it had been but its intent and meaning had stopped Kemui in her tracks. The assassin kept staring down into the endless nothingness, while the desk clerk just stared off into space. She took a drag then flicked the now spent filter over the edge, the contrast of something other than black caught the attention of grey eyes, “I was just saying you were being stupid, like always…”

Kemui said nothing, losing sight of the filter in the darkness.

Fishing out another one and placing it in her mouth Reki continued, “It’s funny,” she gave a half-laugh as she lit it, “Back when you were a kid and you wanted to ask me something you always started screwing with my pens,” she put away her lighter, a half-grin coming around the edge of her lips, “I always wondered if you knew such a thing irked my OCD and did it intentionally, or if you simply did it because it was something in front of me that would catch my attention…” she let the anecdote hang in the air a moment, not expecting the younger woman next to her to say or do anything.

She didn’t.

The black eyed woman breathed out smoke, “So what do you want me to look into?”

There was the barest of twitches in the white woman’s hand, but it was enough for Reki to notice, “My clan,” the woman’s hand tightened around her other arm, “I want you to look into the records the branch here had on those up north…”

Reki nodded, figuring it’d be something that drastic that would have the little screwball coming back asking for _her_ help, “Anything specific…?”

“That night…” was the barely whisper the assassin managed to get out.

The dark haired woman sighed openly, snubbing out her last cigarette, “Right, the one where the Nibi attacked and essentially destroyed the clan up north,” out of the corner of her black eyes she could see Kemui’s left hand twitch, and if the woman hadn’t been facing away from her she knew she’d see those grey eye harden, “So I take it that whole display earlier brought out a renewed interest in our current Jinchuuriki for it?”

“I just want to know how she got it…” what wasn’t said was clear as day to the desk clerk.

“Right, check historical records to see if a-” some quick math in her head, “-three year old was responsible for releasing a demon cat that _almost_ wiped out one of the deadliest and unknown clans in the five elemental nations,” Reki stared blankly at the back of Kemui’s head, “Trying to compare who had the most kills?”

Kemui’s hand went slack.

A black brow rose, she hadn’t expected that. Reki looked the younger woman over, something was… _different_ about her compared to the last time she’d seen her almost three years ago. The tattooed woman took her ash tray and started heading out, “I’ll look in to it, find you if there’s anything…”

Kemui stayed silent, going back to leaning on the railing, staring at nothingness.

After several silent steps Reki stopped, staring in front of her, a nagging thought coming to the surface, “... Kemui,” she still wasn’t used to using _that_ name, “That girl, the little one with the bandana that ran by my desk,” she didn’t expect the assassin to move or make any hint that she was listening, “is she yours?”

The balcony was silent, not even the wind blew to cover up the space between them.

Then the white haired woman spoke, low and with little emotion, “As much as I am yours…”

“Hmp,” Reki just shook her head, “You should really take my advice and have a few of your own before you get too old,” and with that the black haired woman left the empty space.

Leaving only the assassin, alone in her thoughts.

\-----

Rekishi- Death by being run over, successive generations/emperors, history  
Kougakushin- love of learning  
\--Gakushin Reki (take away shi- death, kou- love) – learning by being run over

Kokuei – dark shadow

Darui– sluggish, languid, heavy feeling… slang: Dull

Shii- Selfishness, arbitrariness

Kaneda- Kane- Money

\-----


	4. Trace of Fire

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Strange things are starting to pop up...

\-----

The wind blew through the tall grass causing a rustle that conveniently covered up the sound of the foreigners invading this land. The sway of the trees brought down shadows that moved and swayed to an unknown rhythm, covering their tracks and keeping them out of sight. The bright moon with the hazy clouds created an eerie atmosphere that if one didn’t know better would make them paranoid in the woods, expecting the monster to strike long before they knew what hit them.

And strike it did…

“Aahugh…” was the dying cry of one guardsman, his comrade having only the slightest amount of time to register fear and turn to the disemboweled body next to him. After the fraction it took for his eyes to widen a grotesque ripping sound came from below his line of sight and suddenly his chest felt very heavy and wet. Looking down there was a hand, covered in blood, with extended claw-like nails sticking out of it, a disturbing ‘wheeze’ releasing from the area as blood oozed quietly down his form and air freed itself from his ruptured lungs.

The next moment had the body slump as Yugito tossed it silently off her blood soaked arm, absentmindedly flicking her wrist as flecks of red substance littered the ground around her two kills, two in a long line to come. She stared vacantly for a moment, only a moment, at the bodies before her training took over, crouching over the bodies and shuffling through their pockets for anything useful before she or her teammates would dispose of the bodies, eliminating the evidence, and proving that Kumo was never here.

“Tuu,” a large man landed on her right, appearing out of nowhere like they were trained. He was average looking for someone of Kumo, with dark skin and brown hair done in short dreads, he had a burn scar covering the lower left side of his face yet despite this didn’t look that scary. His thin black eyes scanned down at the blonde woman in front of him, “Anything useful?”

“Just the usual spare kunai and a couple of these,” Yugito held up a few explosive notes over her shoulder towards the man, which he gently took from her hand. Shuffling back through her kill’s pockets she grabbed a few more solider pills and determined the rest not worth salvaging, forming a few seals ending with a one handed Tora, Yugito breathed out, “ _Hinoke_ ,” and blew out a mist of eerie blue-black fire which grabbed hold of the two bodies and began eating away at them. Without looking back she called out to her comrade, “Wann, we should move on, Trii is already in position.”

“Mmh,” the large man gave an affirmative sound, folding his arms as he watched her, “Tuu, no time to spare then…”

Yugito nodded, the use of ‘code-names’ had become common place to her now, even if she did have an issue with almost all of hers being some derivative of either her surname or something to do with a cat. ‘Tuu’ was much more preferable to Senpai’s ‘Neko-chan’. The blue-black fire burned in her eyes a moment and compelled by a strange force she leaped over the dead, burning bodies, not touched by the eerie flames, almost like it was a natural occurrence.

Having landed deftly on her feet like a cat she sniffed around, ears perked for any odd sounds, trying to find their next targets and the quickest way to their destination. When silence preceded the area and it became obvious to her that ‘Wann’ was not following she turned back on the large man, blonde brow perked as her question was obvious.

The large man cleared his throat, feeling uncomfortable under the young woman’s gaze, he didn’t know what it was but there was a strange feeling in the area, like something immensely large was watching him but somehow was invisible. It was when ‘Tuu’s’ eyes landed on him that he determined it was the young jinchuuriki. Normally he and ‘Trii’ got along with Yugito fine, but for some reason, something extremely primal in the back of his mind was saying to be careful around her. His dark eyes darted to the crisp ash, just as what little remained of the bodies ceased to be and the eerie blue-black fire died out. Without the source of light his eyes slowly adjusted, focusing once again on the young woman crouched in front of him.

That was when he noticed something wrong.

“Tuu…” the man’s deep voice began, pausing only as the feeling seemed to double at the expectance of his words. He had to swallow to make his observation out, “Your eyes…” they were glowing and feral, almost like that of a cat’s…

In what little light pervaded the area he could tell the blonde’s brow arched, she didn’t verbally pose her question but it was obvious.

The large man swallow, shaking his head, it was better to discuss at a later time. They had a job to do, a mission to finish, questions could wait.

-=-

The camp was a disaster area, bodies strewn about, cut in half, pierced by jagged rocks, kunai-pincushions… the colorful descriptions could go on and in depth, but that wasn’t what really matter…

What did matter was the three ninja alive in the middle of the gore-fest…

“Whew…” a strangely chill man sporting orangey-blonde chin length hair, a black stripe of facial hair trimmed neatly forming a line going straight down from the middle of his lips to just below his pointed chin and a black raccoon style tattoo from one side of his face to the other around his dark eyes sighed openly, breathing out smoke as he withdrew his cigarette. “That was a tick more troublesome than normal, ne?” Trii, the third member of the strike and elimination trio spoke in an oddly chill voice.

“Hmp,” Wann was standing with his arms crossed, small black eyes squinting at the destruction the three of them caused. He didn’t have anything particularly against his job nor the gore and destruction they wrought, it was his job, but something was itching him the wrong way. He hmm’ed to himself as he looked over at their third member, “Tuu?”

Yugito was vacantly staring at the bodies, cataloging them in her mind for some reason. Death just sent an… itch in the back of her mind, it wasn’t that she wasn’t ‘used’ to death, no one ever got ‘truly’ used to it. – _well maybe Kemui…_ \- thinking about the white-haired assassin put her metaphysical fur on end. Something about that woman just made her tense, not scared or paranoid like she had when first meeting her, but something else… like a memory you just couldn’t grasp or a word you’ve forgotten but suddenly remember the meaning to, that feeling was just there, grating…

She stepped over a body…

There had to be something, her instincts were telling her something, just out of her grasp like always.

Over another body…

It had been months since she started seeing her and Yorihi on a regular basis, oddly enough much to Batsuko’s delight, the damnable tabby wouldn’t stop babbling about how it irritated ‘that dog’ as it like to refer to Kemui for whatever damnable reason…

Another…

And she had been having fun teaching Yorihi things about being a ninja. Kemui always seemed to disapprove when Yugito started telling the little girl stories about her missions, glamorizing them with sound-effects and plot-lines that never really happened, just to entertain the little five year old. The older woman would just roll her grey eyes, which was a weird ‘human’ reaction Yugito took three weeks to get used to seeing from the so cold and calculating assassin. Yorihi just seemed to bring out ‘normal’ in people, like how Bee would act a fool to get her to smile, Kemui would give those random ‘approving’ smiles and roll her eyes, even throwing in humor once or twice, even the Raikage was less destructive in the girl’s presence and far more approachable…

Step…

But what seemed to get to the teenaged jinchuuriki the most was how much she had started opening up to the little girl. Sure, the first few times she’d ‘joined’ their ‘training’ secessions she’d just sat there and stared not knowing what to do, but when the little girl asked about what Yugito did she blurted out the first thing that came to mind which happened to be a mission summary. The little girl just kind of stared at her behind her blindfold, furrowed her eyebrows and said ‘that sounds so boring’, which just sounded so weird to the blonde. Then again seeing Kemui reprimand her for being ‘rude’ was weirder as the two got into a semi-argument about being ‘polite’, which while being far more reserved then ‘Kemui’s grammatical rhyme lessons to Killer-Bee’ was still oddly aggressive, even if the two didn’t raise their voices at all and Yorihi ended up just laughing while the white-haired woman ‘smiled’. Yugito was still getting used to that at the time…

Step…

So she had started telling stories, converting her missions into dramas they certainly never would have been considered, glamorizing the tasks and jobs of the shinobi way only to have a five year old child laugh openly clapping or gripping her pillow in awe. Kemui didn’t approve, finding it needless to glorify what they did, so when Yorihi had asked her teacher to tell her about what she did aside from teach her, the white haired woman seemed to actually stop and consider her words. Yugito remembered this scene distinctly, as both her and Yorihi were holding on to pillows while the assassin had a cup of tea in her hand. Grey eyes had blinked once, stared ahead of her, then she sipped her tea. Both younger girls had just sighed deeply, thankful for the pillows, neither sure what they had expected.

Yugito smiled slightly at the memories…

… and stepped over another body.

What story could she tell about this fight? The young woman paused on her journey through the field of corpses; to a normal person this morose scene would simply be depressing. For her, the Nibi container, it was the site of odd inspiration. After a battle, no matter the severity she always seemed to find a level of peace amongst the bodies. It was weird and she knew it but it was a feeling she could not shake, like the one she had around the assassin. As morbid as the thought was, this was where she figured out the stories she told to Yorihi, something about the end being present to her, or maybe trying to figure out who these people were that she’d killed inspired her to weave tales of people, places, things about the ‘characters’ that ended up corpses at her feet…

She stepped over another body, feeling a spark of inspiration…

It never occurred to Yugito that maybe, just maybe the ‘stories’ she was telling or the ‘inspiration’ she got from the deceased had something to do with the monstrous cat sealed inside her heart…

“Tuu!” the sound of her superior’s voice snapped the young woman out of her ‘creative’ daze. She turned quickly, whipping her blonde double tailed ponytail out of her eyes as she stared at the large man, she was about to call back to him when her other partner spoke.

Trii had stood up from his seat on a craggy rock and pile of bodies, flicking his cigarette, “What is with that?” he asked as he stepped up next to his commander, “Every time we’re done with a battle, Tuu’s gotta walk over the bodies of everyone there, no matter how many,” he took another drag just staring at the woman as her eyes went towards the ground, “I swear, sounds like those old stories my mom used to tell me about cat’s walking over bodies to gain power over them or something…” the smaller man laughed openly, not realizing the impact his words had on his comrades.

In an instant two glowing copper cat-like eyes were on him.

For a moment both males felt a dark chill roll down their spines, as if the area was suddenly permeated by a large and malevolent presence. Both looked towards Yugito, caught in the gaze of those glowing cat eyes, stunned.

Some sense made it to the forefront of Yugito’s mind, she could feel the cat’s presence, it made her head hurt. She placed a hand on her head, closing her eyes and ending the ‘spell’ cast on her comrades. She didn’t feel well, something feeling terribly wrong about this situation.

“Whoa,” Trii was the first to speak, his eye twitching in black tattoo, “The hell just happened…?”

Their large leader ignored the younger man, taking several steps towards Yugito, grabbing her around the arm to support her as she seemed to sway, “Tuu, are you alright?”

“I-I,” Yugito pressed the heel of her palm into her eye, keeping both closed as they started to itch, “I dunno…” her stomach started to turn and a sense of vertigo set in, her remaining hand clinched her stomach as she tried to remain on her feet.

“Come on,” the large man grabbed her other arm, leading the young woman off the field, hoping it was the smell of death surrounding them that was getting to her and not something else, “The mission is over, we’re going home…”

“’Bout time,” Trii followed behind the duo, propping his sword on his shoulder as he took a drag with his other hand. After a moment he removed the spent filter and flicked it into a pile of bodies without care, that is until something bright caught in the corner of his eye. Blinking and turning quickly the young man caught the sight of what looked like a dark, wispy cat, preening over a corpse. It flicked its ear before staring up at him with emerald eyes. He blinked, rubbing his eyes to make sure he wasn’t going crazy, only to open them and find not a trace of the feline. He blinked again, turning all around and seeing nothing before a cold feeling trailed along his shoulders.

He turned quickly and jogged to catch up with his team...

… They were only stories, stories his mother had told him about fork-tailed cats, ghosts, and shape-shifting woman that ate human flesh to gain their power.

Just stories…

So why was his brain telling him as he ran away from the battlefield behind his team that the cat he’d glimpsed had a forked tail and a Cheshire grin…

… and maybe, just maybe, those stories of Nekomata, Bakeneko, and Senri had something to do with his blonde teammate who had glowing cat-eyes when mad and stepped over the bodies of the dead?

-=-

It had been another long day of training and Kemui was surprised at how grateful she was for it to be over. Since her ‘teaching’ job had started little over two years ago she had had little time to herself, let alone few ‘real’ missions requiring her true ‘talents’, something she was convinced the Raikage had something to do with. An Assassin performing only three assassinations in two years was an insult to her skills, but she wasn’t going to complain, not only was it not her place to do such but her work with her Lord’s daughter proved extensive and tiring, even though that didn’t stop her from voicing her opinions loudly when said Lord sought to invade her territory for an ‘idle’ chat. Despite the bizarre nature of what had become routine in the past year or so, the Assassin could not honestly complain, sure she never expected this ‘job’ to have become so serious, nor take so long. Though, there were times she wondered, wondered what she was doing here, teaching a small child the future skills she would need to be a fighter and killer, not an Assassin like her, but shinobi still lead dangerous lives…

She also wondered if her time spent here and not in the field, not killing random people with no past or name she cared for, if she was beginning to lose her touch? If Kemui the Assassin was going soft? And most crucially, was that a bad thing?

These thoughts drifted in and out of the white-haired woman’s mind as she absentmindedly stroked her student’s hair. It had been a long day, mainly chakra training with a mix of physical exercises, the small girl had excellent stamina thanks to the ‘tag’ she played with the bakeneko and her father, but that left her with little strength and her forms were lacking. Kemui kept mental note of everything that needed to be done, marking it in her mind and storing it for later, her primary focus right now was getting the girl better acquainted with chakra and how to use it properly, in the hopes she could figure out her eyes quicker, not to mention begin experimenting with styles and chakra strike combinations. The fact that the girl could actually _see_ chakra, when pushed enough to use her ‘black and white’ vision, was a tremendous help, not only to her but all of the little girl’s observations on the actions, movements, and changes with use of chakra Kemui wrote down for further study, assured in the knowledge that Kumo’s Research and Development would kick themselves for the information.

Yorihi was progressing well, in Kemui’s opinion, not just in training physically and spiritually but somehow the Assassin had managed to throw in normal education in between ‘tag’ and sight exercises. The girl already had a decent grasp of Kumo history, what little Yugito had managed to scrunch down into a ‘story’ at least she remembered well, primarily consisting of the village founding and Raikages of the past, noteworthy battles and prior wars. Somehow the young Jinchuuriki could form anything into an enrapturing tale the little girl never forgot, despite how much Kemui had attempted ‘typical’ teaching styles of such and amazingly failed. The girl could write easy, both with and without her sight, though somewhat sloppier without obviously, and her ability to read was astounding for one her age. When first handed a scroll she finished it within the night, Kemui had to assume that as aggravating as the girl’s former clan had been, they certainly knew how to train their children early on. The Assassin didn’t have to bother with teaching her ‘normal’ reading skills, so went on immediately in training her how to read brail, which proved to be exceedingly amusing as the little girl had no idea what little bumps on paper were supposed to mean. Kemui had to try very hard not to laugh, before explaining that since she was ‘blind’ she would have to learn how to read as blind people did. It was only after that explanation that the girl started to pick it up. Now the Assassin couldn’t wait to try teaching her dermosight reading…

The one thing that had truly surprised the Assassin, similar to figuring out the girl could possibly have a photographic memory, was that she was exceptionally good with numbers. It seemed that the girl remembered numbers well, something she noticed when Yugito had been retelling a story and the girl kept correcting her about the number of enemy ninja that were encountered and died. Curious, Kemui experimented, telling the girl a random number disguised as some random fact at the beginning of the day and asking about it later, the girl got them correct nearly every single time. Curious still, the Assassin started teaching her the basics of math, only for the girl to snort, much to the white-haired woman’s disapproval, and say she already knew that. Piquing an eyebrow, the Assassin went on to test this, gaining similar results to her previous ‘test’, but another observation was gained. The girl’s math ability seemed primarily interested in money, when an example was put in that context she always got it right, when in another, such as a battlefield with enemies and allies, she got the correct answer _most_ of the time. Kemui wondered if this ‘interest’ was inherent or taught, but it gave her something to work with as she expanded on the girl’s learning in math.

Kemui had a slight smile on her lips that wouldn’t disappear when she was relatively alone like this. True, she was in Yorihi’s room, and the girl was asleep with her head in the Assassin’s lap, but the white-haired woman felt it was safe enough to express _some_ of her joy at her student’s progress. She was a strict teacher, nearly heartless she was sure since she barely showed any emotion to the girl, yet somehow the child always smiled at her, always eager to learn, even if there was more than once she ‘fought’ with her teacher over this or that. Those arguments were honestly more like her ‘debates’ with Bee, more out of some camaraderie than an actual problem.

Her hand passed over the small girl’s hair again, noting how it was getting longer. The Assassin’s pale fingers lingered over a small braid on the side of Yorihi’s face, she knew there was another on the other side, they didn’t quite frame her face like Kemui’s, since she had her now grown out bangs on one side and her natural parting behind them. Kemui fiddled with the one closest for a moment, her head shaking the barest as she knew the small girl was trying to imitate her ‘Teacher’. – _If only you knew_ \- she thought to the girl, letting go of the small braid, and remembering that it was Yugito that had done it, remembered how she’d walked in on the girls and the jinchuuriki had that look like a spooked cat while Yorihi had only given that bright grin. Kemui didn’t know what to think; the assassin only stared for a moment before going on about her business as if not noticing a thing, resulting in a pout to form on the small dark haired girl’s lips and the blonde to take a reassuring breath. The bakeneko had given that hissing giggle of its before grey eyes had stared it down.

But the damage had been done, and Yorihi had kept her hair like that ever since, smiling as she mimicked her Teacher…

Kemui sighed deeply into the dark and mostly empty room thoughts running through her mind. She was an Assassin, she was named, she was a million other things all disgraceful in the eyes of her dead clan and feared by any shinobi of the village except a select few, and she had a small child that looked up to her, smiled at her, even wanted to mimic her… She closed her eyes and hung her head as she stroked the girl’s midnight blue hair, “What am I going to do…”

Lightning flashed from the windows behind the bed, causing shadows to litter the floor for a moment.

It wasn’t long before a low rumble followed…

There was a creak as the door to the small girl’s room opened…

Kemui raised her head slowly, opening her eyes as she looked upon the sudden intruder. Her eyes were sharp as steel, any doubts or thoughts that haunted her moments ago were erased; the Assassin she was took over as she took sight of the person on the other side of the door.

There is a low growl from the person, an almost hiss in their throat as they breath, and as the lighting flashes again, the Assassin catches sight of a much larger shadow behind them then there should be.

But most of all, it is those glowing copper slit eyes that catch the white haired woman’s attention.

Grey eyes narrow as Kemui expertly shifts out from under her pupil, laying the girl on her bed to rest without disturbing her in the least. This is a matter that must be handled quickly, something she had been expecting, kept locked away deep within the darker recesses of her mind, in the area where Jimei feared to tread and where Satsuki still stalked. There was an itch in Kemui’s left eye as her sights zero in on the obviously possessed girl before her, her left hand idly slipping her knife from its sheath and holding it threateningly in that hand. The wolf’s fangs were bared…

The cat’s eyes never wavered, a maliciousness entering them that was unlike anything the Assassin had ever seen in the blonde girl before. There was the rumble of thunder outside as the cat growled low in its throat…

“Yugito,” there is a noticeable growl in the Assassin’s voice as her good eye glares at the cat in front of her, hand gripping the knife tighter, “Leave now…”

The only response she gains is a splitting Cheshire grin that runs from ear to ear on the girl’s face.

Kemui snarls.

There is another flash, and in that instant the white haired Assassin is gone. In the next instant Yugito is slammed into the wall behind the door, only for Kemui to rematerialize from nothing pinning the younger woman; her right hand holding one arm up, left knee in her stomach and foot preventing the blonde’s legs from rising, as her left elbow pins Yugito’s other arm with her knife at the young jinchuuriki’s throat. Kemui’s face is within an inch from the teenager’s with a low growl rising from her throat as she glares straight into the woman’s glowing eyes. For a fraction of an instant Kemui notices something strange reflected in the girl’s eyes, as if her own left eye had a glowing ring around the iris, but she dismisses it, growling at the girl instead, “I could have killed you just now, tell me why you’re not?” to accentuate her point she pressed the edge of her knife into the woman’s throat, cutting slightly and garnering a small amount of blood.

The only response the Assassin receives is a long, eerie cat yowl coming from the younger woman’s throat. It is an inhuman and haunting sound, but not enough to completely faze the Assassin, not that it matters as in the next instant the young jinchuuriki slips from her grasp, seemingly sinking into the wall, that Cheshire grin and insane glowing eyes the last thing the white haired woman sees.

For a moment Kemui stares, blinking her dichotomously glowing eyes and correcting her stance. Immediately she turns around, eyes widening just a fraction as she sees through the open door Yorihi, still unconscious, held helplessly in the arms of the obviously possessed Yugito, that cruel Cheshire grin widening disturbingly as the feline sees the rage beginning to rise in the white woman’s eyes.

Something in Kemui just snaps. The woman loses all pretext of being the cold, calm Assassin she has spent years crafting, discarding that mask for the feral beast she keeps underneath. The wolf snarls rage driven at the haunting Nibi, taking one step forward, completely intent on recovering what is hers…

… Only to be thrown against the back wall by an unseen force, crushed cruelly for an infinitely long moment and unceremoniously dropped to the floor in a broken heap.

The Nibi, through Yugito’s body, looks down at the white dog. A growl rises in its stolen throat as it sneers down at the woman, just daring her to get back up. At the Assassin’s still form it gives another cruel grin before turning and walking down the hall with its prize…

Kemui twitches, her left hand jerking as it tries to reach forward. The woman opens her eyes, feeling that itch in her left eye as she watches through blurry vision as the cat in human form walks away with her Lord’s daughter in its arms. Her eyes narrow when the lightning flashes, throwing the shadow of the Nibi’s true form along the walls as it passes, its twin tails swaying as it openly mocks the woman it left broken on the floor.

Kemui grits her teeth, forcing her eyes to stay open. – _Get up…_ \- it is the only thing running through her mind. Her body is heavy as pain jolts through it causing her to bite her tongue less she convulse and potentially swallow it. – _Get. Up._ \- she growls again, using her training to block out the pain, suppress the nervous spasms that want to wrack her body from the beast’s attack, override her body’s natural reaction to go into shock, - _GET… UP…_ \- Her mind roars as she makes it to her knees…

… Only to fall back down as her body convulses. Once again she bites her tongue, shutting her eyes to block out the world and regain control of her body. The beast’s chakra was disturbingly familiar to her, the hatred and malice it poured into that concentrated killer intent, so much so it was a physical force that pushed her to the wall and nearly crushed her… it was almost as if an invisible hand had grabbed her entire body and tried squeezing the life out of her. The cat hadn’t been that ruthless 14 years ago. Then again she hadn’t been within five feet of it and the thing’s sole target before…

The convulsions stopped, allowing the woman a moment of reprieve, one she didn’t intend to waste lying down. Quickly Kemui flexed and un-flexed her muscles, trying to warm them up and relax them in an attempt to not have a repeat of the last minute. Slowly as she gained control of her body she turned over, lying flat on her stomach and prepared to try getting to her feet again. She had a job to do, something she _needed_ to get back. Slowly her grey eyes opened determination and rage in them…

… Only to look straight into the placid emerald eyes of Batsuko.

Surprised for the moment Kemui just stares. In the next her white brows furrow and the same rage she felt at the Nibi entered her eyes and leveled with the ghost cat. She expected the cat to sneer, to cackle at her and snicker, try to goad her into a futile attack and finish what its master had started…

Instead the feline simply looked at her; stared straight into her eyes as its became sorrowful, almost apologetic.

The white woman was taken aback by the look in the cat’s eyes, confused and not knowing what to do about it…

“Ack,” then her body convulses again, reacting to the presence of the otherworldly feline, igniting in her mind the pain she’d just had, and reviving memories of the past she’d rather left buried.

Batsuko’s sorrowful eyes witnessed the woman’s pain, taking note of not only the physical suffering but the psychological flashbacks that were wracking her current consciousness. For a moment the feline thought she would break, that the Nibi’s revenge would be satisfied as it finally crushed the last remnants of _that_ family…

Then the white woman snarled, opening her left glowing rimmed eye and stared directly at it…

… And Batsuko knew she would not let this… ‘ _affliction_ ’ stop her, she would overcome it, one way or another, and she would take back the girl. The purple-black tabby lowered its large ears, closing its strangely colored eyes, and leaned forward to press its nose to the woman’s forehead. Yes, she would overcome this, she would face her fears, and she would save the girl, this it would make sure of…

Kemui’s body immediately stopped convulsing, the pain receding as a strange soothing feel entered her limbs and expanded to her entire body, almost as if the poisonous chakra was being banished. With her mind free from pushing back the pain her senses came back to her, she felt the wet otherworldly contact of the bakeneko, and a strange foreign feeling invading her presence. When the cat removed itself she looked at it, its eyes were staring right at her and she had the sudden feeling it was telling her something very specific.

‘ _Save her…_ ’

“Tch,” her white brows twitched as she immediately jumped to her feet and made her way down the hall. The cat didn’t have to tell her twice, nor did its unspoken threat need even be considered. A cat never gives anything freely, it never ‘ _asks_ ’…

Batsuko grins at the dog as it runs, knowing that she knew. It gave her a small chance, a small chance to get back what she has lost, something that had become precious to everyone here. The finicky feline wonders a moment why it did that, such an informal contract with no real rules. It shakes its head, ridding itself of the ‘silly’ thoughts, and runs after the dog.

\-----

Hinoke- Trace of Fire

Wann, Tuu, Trii – One, Two, Three (Phonetic spelling)

\-----


	5. Cinder Dragon

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Meanwhile, with Reki...

The archives in the Raikage’s tower were held in the central stanchion of the modified mountain building. Whereas the rest of the external structure was wood and felt rather added on, the central structure was solid stone, and probably the most stable of any part of the building. This was probably why only the most important things were stored inside it, such as the records archives and various other vaults filled with nothing but miles and miles of paperwork.

A snort escaped the sole occupant of the archives at the moment; she was seated at a desk in between the shelves and literally barricaded in by mounds upon mounds of scrolls surrounding her. Thin black eyes scanned the next scroll, opening it as she propped herself back in a chair, feet up on another one, as she halfway leaned on the table at her side. For whatever reason she was still smoking a cigarette in the confines of the stone room, surrounded by aging scrolls with poor ventilation, despite how much of a bad idea that was.

Reki’s eyes rolled as yet again another ‘ancient and important’ scroll had nothing on the what she was looking for, despite its priceless value to the village, the tan woman nonchalantly threw it over her shoulder, amazingly landing on another pile of ‘priceless documents’. She languidly stared ahead as she reached for another scroll, this one bearing the crest of a swallow, some clan she was sure resided in Rai no Kuni before the village’s founding but had no idea what its name was. Each and every scroll she had sitting haphazardly on the desk was from that time period or before, all of them old, and most of them propaganda written by paranoid clans that spouted their bias of how much more effective they were at this job or that, like anyone but her would be reading this crap. Smoke billowed around her as she opened the scroll, lazily flicking the ash into her trusty ashtray as her eyes skimmed the faded writing behind her wire-framed glasses.

“ _In the tenth year of the clan leader Musashi…_ ” she began reading out loud just to pass the time, “Blah blah… _Founded a suitable land for training…_ Yadda, yadda… _Killed the leader of the boars Akoto…_ Uh-huh… _Later usurped by his niece Aboshi_ … ooh? _Who trained in the use of black-powder weapons…_ I could probably learn from this woman… _and killed him by poisoning his drink and challenging him to a drinking contest, he not knowing she had spent years becoming immune to the very same poison…_ ” a black brow rose as she read that line, then a snort, “Wow, I like this woman…” Black eyes skimmed the scroll with decidedly more interest as she started noticing nuances from this clans’ style of writing and the events being portrayed. – _It’s almost like a story?_ \- normally most clan scrolls were written in the laymen’s of ‘textbook’ style writing, to limit errors and prove validity. This scroll was different, Reki flipped to the back of the scroll again, noting the crest with the swallow on it with a piqued brow. Perhaps this was written in some form of code? What clan had a ‘swallow’ as its crest anyway?

The gears in her mind started racing. The black haired desk clerk set down the current scroll, telling the tales of the female clan leader ‘Aboshi’ and her apparent siege of the forest, using all manners of combat that would nowadays be considered both squandering and foolish, but for the time they must have been rather inventive seeing as she drove off the ‘Okami’ and various other ‘Beast-Clans’ from the area and claimed it for their own.

“Hmm…?” Reki hummed to herself as she relit a new cigarette and opened another scroll with the same clan seal on it. “I wonder…” she blew out a cloud of smoke into the air as her expert eyes skimmed this one for information. It contained another account, presumably later, seeing as the ‘Princess’ of the ‘Okami’ clan had returned and somehow rendered aid to the clan’s current leader ‘Ashitaka’… her thin eyes narrowed on the faded word, not sure it was right, but the connotation from the surrounding paragraphs and the language, while old, referred to this ‘person’ as overly important, and ‘Daughter’ was part of the character… shaking her head she continued reading. It seemed the previous ‘enemy’ was now a valued ally against some common enemy. Reki leaned in close to the scroll, bringing it up towards the light and somehow miraculously not catching it on fire with her cigarette, “this word,” she tapped it as her eyes scrutinized the faded ink, “What is this word? ‘Fuu’? a seal? No that can’t be it…” she looked around the page, comparing it to other context, “This is definitely the ‘enemy’ the ‘swallow’ clan required help from the ‘Okami’ clan…” she tapped the word again, remembering that the ‘swallow’ clan never once mentioned its name, so she only had the crest to go by. – _Sounds familiar_ \- she thought cynically as she remembered the Assassins’ never went by a ‘name’, but she never remembered them having a crest, let alone one of a swallow?

The dark hair and eyed woman continued to scrutinized the page, “Perhaps this only deals with the history of ‘part’ of the Assassin’s clan?” she raised her eyes, adjusting her glasses as she viewed a large backdrop that showed in great detail the lands of Rai no Kuni. It was an old map, but its geographical data was still valuable, even if the names of the ‘cities’ were completely outdated and the regions didn’t match current census. Though there was something about it that caught her attention…

Standing up, leaving the scroll on the desk, Reki walked over to the large map, examining a very specific area to the north. Her black eyes trailed from the central, mountainous, location of what was now Kumogakure no Sato, pointing at it with her hand, reading the old title that loosely translated to ‘Demon’s mountain’ over to a portion in the northern part that contained a cove with a solitary island all its own. “Hmm…” a black brow piqued, none of the Assassin’s that had come to Kumo 14 years ago mentioned anything about where they were from, other than ‘up north’, yet all of them had dark tan skin, which would suggest they lived out in the open, and most of the areas to the north were forested, meaning they’d have to live on some coast. A smirk rose on her lips around the cigarette as she remembered a little detail about a certain white-haired girl, “And that little brat did have a penchant for squid…” she mused a moment, staring at that portion of the map, removing her cigarette and flicking the ash off.

“… and Yugito was found on an island…” the information flitted into Reki’s mind before she fully processed it. When it finally settled in her mind what it meant, and what she may have found her thin eyes widened, immediately she flipped around and stared at the scrolls, “Could they really be?” keeping hold of the thought, the tan woman went back to the desk, flipping open the most recent looking scroll she could find with the ‘swallow’ crest, her black brows furrowed as she scanned line upon line of information. – _If this means what I think… I may have not only just found the original settlement for the Assassin’s clan_ \- a part of her mind remembered the ‘Okami’ clan, if they were what she thought they were… - _Then I may have also found the reason the Nibi attacked them in the first place…_ -

After several long minutes of searching, her black eyes came across that same odd character from before. Intrigued as to why that same character, used in a scroll at least fifty if not a hundred years older, appeared again caused her black brow to rise, “And it’s in reference to something that seems to occur every generation or so…” the cigarette filter tucked between her lips shifted from one side to the other as her eyes continued scanning the script, occasionally flipping back to the older documents, trying to find the connection that would finally tell her the purpose of the unknown character.

- _It deals with ‘seal’, and from the context it’s something grossly powerful-_ her thin eyes fell back on an older passage noting the aid of the ‘Okami’ princess as her hands expertly swapped the spent filter for another death stick. “Something enough to bring former enemies together, huh?” the more she read the more interesting the tale got, “ _Lord Ashitaka fought bravely against the_ \- damnit what the hell is that word? _Before it was obvious he could not beat it with the_ \- yea yea, then the ‘Princess’ shows up…” her dark eyes skimmed a bit ahead, noticing the ‘Okami’ seemingly ‘appeared’, “Probably after the thing… hunting it maybe?” according to the text the leader of the ‘Okami’ wanted nothing to do with the ‘swallow’ clan, seeing as the matriarch still hated them from Aboshi’s time. Reki paused and blinked at that line as she read it again, “Wouldn’t that make the old leader some hundred…?” shaking her head she skipped that conundrum, it wasn’t important, “ _Despite opposition from her…_ uh, I think that’s ‘brothers’? _… ‘Brothers’ and mother, the… ‘Princess’_ … What the hell was her name, I can’t read this script? _… Joined forces with lord Ashitaka…_ Blah blah blah bad romance obviously… _And fought off the ‘…’ and its army of raised undead comprised of their fallen brethren, whom they were forced to fight_ … well that’s down right nast-” the lighter was mere centimeters from lighting her current joy when lightning struck, literally outside and figuratively in Reki’s mind, “Undead?” she immediately took her thumb off the cheap lighter, extinguishing the flame and stared at the page again.

Black eyes blinked for a second before she knew who this ‘great evil’ was, in fact she knew exactly why the ‘swallow’ clan had insisted on the aid of their old enemies the ‘Okami’, “Heh,” a wicked smirk rose on her lips as she rolled up the scroll, tucking it away for access later as she gathered her notes and headed towards the door, “Always send for a dog when hunting a cat…”

As she headed towards the exit, the desk clerk couldn’t wipe the smirk from her normally so lazy and uninterested features. This information was priceless, she would probably consider handing it over to the officials of the village, later, but right now the only person it mattered getting to was the last ‘known’ member of what was apparently the ‘Swallow’ clan of the Assassins, “And to think,” Reki mumbled as she finally got around to lighting her cigarette, “I had to help that little twerp-” Immediately Reki stopped mid-sentence as a foreboding sense fell upon her.

Outside lighting flashed, momentarily lighting up the darkened passages of the Raikage’s tower. Coal black eyes moved left then right as the dark haired woman stepped away cautiously from the entrance to the archives. Something was amiss, she could feel it in her bones, “Or it might just be that ominous black shadow the size of a bijuu radiating killing intent surrounding that terribly dark figure at the other end of the foyer…” the desk clerk said flatly as she removed the cigarette lighter from the vicinity of her mouth, breathing smoke out slowly through her nose as thin eyes just stared ahead at what was in front of her.

The Nibi waved its terrible twin tails aggressively, shown only in the shadow it projected on the wall. The only ‘warning’ Reki received was the inhuman growl that released from the bottom of Yugito’s chest as her possessed copper slit eyes glared at the woman nonchalantly staring behind her glasses.

“Heh,” Reki gave a mirthless laugh, right hand sliding behind her back, “Is that what you call a threat?” her head tilted lightly as she took another drag, slowly pulling a long metal weapon from her back pouch. A chain rattled that grabbed the Nibi container’s attention, directing its eyes on the odd object in the woman’s hand. Reki smirked wickedly around her cigarette, a violent glare entering her eyes, “I’ll show you something threatening…”

In an instant the black haired woman removed the cigarette from her mouth, spewing out as much ash smoke as possible, the Nibi could feel the woman’s chakra feeding into the smoke, enlarging it. Then there was a swift flick of her right wrist as the strange object revealed to be a Tessen, a metal folding battle fan with black fabric and a flower print of tiny white flowers gathered in small bunches, “Do you know what these white flowers mean?” she spoke softly, closing her eyes and flicking her wrist, letting the chain attached to the ring on the bottom of the fan fall to the ground.

The Nibi narrowed its stolen human eyes, whatever this woman had to say meant nothing, she was of no value to it, merely an insect in its path. For some reason Yugito’s body clinched anyway, tightening her grip on the unconscious girl in her arms, even if she was not in control of her body at the moment, the blonde knew and it showed through her body’s action.

Reki took another drag, breathing out slowly, having her eyes still closed, “What most people mistake on this fan to be ‘Baby’s Breath’ and over all ignoring its significance, assuming it’s a useless side decoration of a flower, is actually Hemlock,” Her eyes flashed open, wider and fiercer than anyone had ever seen them, but perhaps that had something to do with their sudden change in color. The hand that held her cigarette grabbed the edge of her glasses, slowly taking them off as she savored the slight widening of the Bijuu container’s eyes, “And Hemlock solely means ‘Death’,” a flick of her wrist and the glasses went flying to the other side of the room. The crash of glass was accented by the rumble of the building thunder, as the retained cigarette burned brighter, the smoke from it rising to cross her gaze as she stared at the beast…

With fully matured Sharingan eyes.

The shadow of the Nibi seemed to grow as its fur stood on end, an unimaginably terrifying yowl escaping its possessed jailer’s throat. There was no Bijuu in existence that didn’t despise those cursed eyes and it wanted nothing more than to claw them out…

Reki smirked a wide and wicked grin, “I never show these off, but seeing as you stole what’s essentially my granddaughter, how could I live with myself knowing I let you get away without trying my hardest?” she crossed her arms over her chest, flicking ash around her, “Let’s dance,” and with that she lowered the fan, pumping it full of chakra and gathering the spread ash, causing a smoke screen to coalesce into the form of a serpentine dragon that roared as it headed towards the Nibi, “ _Shinder Doragon!!_ ”

\-----

A sudden roar and violent shaking sent Kemui into the closest wall. Bracing herself, the white haired woman’s eyes narrowed, “That wasn’t the thunder,” she stated, looking around and moving from the wooden wall once the sound dissipated. A growl entered her voice as her white brows furrowed, “And that definitely wasn’t the Nibi,” gripping her knife she continued down the hall, not even once looking back at the purple-black ghost cat following close at her heels.

Batsuko stared ahead, a serious look on its face for once. While the dog may not have noticed, it certainly sensed the heavy use of chakra, both the Nibi’s and something else. True, whatever mortal was foolish enough to face the Nibi wouldn’t get very far fighting the demonic twin-tails but the idea that someone was stupid enough to fight it, especially while it held onto the young girl…

The bakeneko growled, flicking its forked tail as it whizzed past the assassin just as they turned the corner into a wide open room. As soon as Batsuko is through the door the cat immediately stops, arching its back with ghostly fur on end as it spits as the ‘thing’ before it.

Kemui turns into the room just as something is thrown rather viciously into the wall to her left, making a disturbing sound as blood flies and bones break. The assassin doesn’t even give whoever it is a passing glance, they did their job, stall that damnable beast so she could catch up and cut it to pieces. Instantly the woman’s left hand is next to her face, the blade in it pointed directly at the possessed form of Yugito, grey glowing eye zeroed on her target.

The cat’s eyes hooded in a sinister way as the lighting outside flashed, reminding them momentarily of the storm building outside the floor to ceiling windows. It held the body of the small girl in its arms tightly, claws extending from the possessed young woman’s hands as her grip constricted, cutting into the small girl’s bare arms and legs. Even in the unconscious sleep forced upon her Yorihi flinched, pain showing on her face as small amounts of blood trickled down her wounds…

Only Batsuko noticed the malevolent chakra sizzling up from the wounds inflicted by the possessed Jinchuuriki’s claws, its emerald eyes narrowing in disgust…

Kemui didn’t notice a thing, she saw her student in pain, she saw claws on her flesh, and most importantly she saw the blood of her Lord’s daughter flowing…

Chakra as cold as ice flooded the room with all the killing intent the Assassin had as she openly growled with no remorse, ready to skewer the ‘ _Thing_ ’ that dared to harm her-

“ ** _KEMUI DON’T!!_** ”

The white woman stopped mid-step, muscles tense as she was within striking distance; the only thing stopping her from her suicidal attack on the Nibi was that voice. She knew it, somewhere in the back of her mind she recognized it, sensed the vehemence in that voice and it made her pause, not that her eyes weren’t strictly on the beast before her.

“ _Don’t you fucking dare!!_ ” the voice growled, reaching low tones that registered something primal in the far-gone Assassin’s mind. There was a slick sound as the person moved bloody hands along the floor, trying to right her position as her photographic eyes held everything in crystal clarity, “Don’t let it tempt…” she lapsed into a coughing fit, reminded of the pain in her chest and the likelihood of a collapsed lung.

Whatever medical training Kemui had jumped to the forefront of her mind. She knew those sounds, knew the possible condition the woman was in thanks to her own breaking experience against the beast’s _killing intent_ , while this woman had to have faced a far more gruesome fate with the amount of chakra dissipated in the air.

“Khe Khe Khe,” the cat in the young woman’s body laughed at the ‘human’ drama before it, could tell the emotions the foolish mortals had displayed on their features, the heart-wrenching decision faced to that _dog_. The Nibi felt nothing of remorse, it only felt gratification at the suffering caused, watching that white dog’s eyes flicker back and forth, undetermined what to do. It apparently had some conscience, or the red-mitsudomoe eyed woman was somehow ‘important’ to it. The cat could only laugh at its luck, unintentionally causing that beast pain after thwarting an ‘ _unskilled’_ Sharingan user. Delicious irony.

Kemui unconsciously growls at the beast laughing in front of her.

The cat sneers for a moment more, nearly dangling Yorihi in an attempt to goad the dog into some kind of attack. An itch in the back of its mind tells it to hurry, its Jailor was scratching at the edges of its consciousness. This needed to be corrected; it didn’t have time to waste on the dog. With one last sneer and threatening growl in its stolen throat the possessed jinchuuriki begins to fade away.

Kemui’s hands are white fists at her sides, her jaw painfully clinched as the cat sneers. It takes a moment but she slowly realizes its fading, planning to move to another location, only slowing its process as a means to taunt her undoubtedly. Despite this, rational thought and years of training, the Assassin takes a step forward, intent on following the thing-

-Only for a firm hand to grab her around the ankle and hold her in place.

Correcting her stance, never moving her gaze until the Nibi and its hostage are completely gone, only then does the white woman bother to look down at what had restrained her. What she sees causes the pupils in her grey eyes to shrink considerably in shock. There, glaring furiously up at her under bloody black bangs are two fully matured Sharingan eyes.

“Settle the fuck down,” Reki’s rasping growl of a voice startles the woman for a moment. The black haired woman takes deep rasping breathes, trying to keep herself going as she stares up at the Assassin, her eyes boring into the younger woman, assuring her she won’t let go, even in death, unless she calms down.

“Tch,” Kemui’s white brows furrow, the closest thing to ascent she was going to give in this moment.

“Heh,” Reki gives a bloody smirk, letting go of the younger woman’s ankle and with a deep, labored sigh leans back to prop herself up against the wall.

Grey eyes calmed only the slightest at the sight of the strong older woman. Kemui respected the desk clerk, not that she’d ever say it out loud, but it was moments like this, where the deceptively ‘bored’ woman could keep both calm and fury in measured check; calm to retain an assessment of a situation and fury to express her own rage letting her empathize with others in the same situation. After a moment Reki did nothing but lean against the wall, eyes shut in the barest hint of pain as one hand held the right side of her chest. Kemui’s medical training kicked in, her mind finally settled enough to fully assess her senior’s condition. – _Strained gulping breathing, rasping sound, lifeless limbs, possible multiple fractures in her right arm, legs non-responsive, spinal damage? Trauma at least, shock hasn’t settled yet, loss of blood…_ \- the thought made the white woman cringe; only displayed by the slight narrowing of her eyes and crinkling at the edges. She knew, just by the amount of blood the woman’s injuries were bad, add to that everything else and…

“Stop giving me that look,” Reki cracked one blood red eye open, giving her junior a look with a strained and narrow glance, “I’m not dead yet…”

The look the white woman gives the black one is resolute anger, but the younger woman doesn’t lash out, doesn’t say a word, instead she reaches into her chest pocket and pulls out volumes of gauze and kneels down in front of the broken woman. Without a word and precise touches Kemui gives the desk clerk first aid, finding cuts and wrapping them, perhaps a _slight_ bit tighter than necessary with the ‘ _almost_ ’ scowl plastered all over her face.

Throughout it all Reki just stares ahead of her at nothing. Her mind blank as the Assassin treats her superficial wounds, at least in her opinion that’s all they are. She takes a long deep breath, knowing this is perhaps the only way to get the woman to calm down, if a little. Her right arm twitches, being almost completely useless, it is numb so long as she doesn’t move it but with every little twitch in its attempt to raise her spent filter to her lips sends a jolt of intense pain racking up and down the immobile appendage. A half grin makes it across Reki’s blood caked lips. – _To think, I’m too fucked up to smoke…_ \- “Heh…”

A growling sound in front of her catches the Sharingan wielder’s attention, and immediately she is face to face with the intense gaze of the dichotomously glowing eyes of Kemui. The white haired woman gives her obvious disapproval at the older woman’s addiction, especially now when she is so close to death.

Reki’s dying half-smile turns into a smirk as her thin Sharingan eyes memorize every detail of the younger woman in front of her, “I found what you were looking for…”

If Reki wasn’t looking straight at her, and probably didn’t have her bastard’s bloodline on, she probably wouldn’t have noticed the woman’s eyes narrow just the slightest bit in anger, or the growl rising in her chest, “It’s not important…”

“Bullshit,” the desk clerk’s mouth thins out, giving her that ‘bored’ look she was known for, “‘it’s not important’, my ass, it deals with both you and that blonde girl…”

The Assassin’s eyes harden just the minute bit more, and with her left eye rimmed in a glowing light it was somewhat more intimidating than normal, or maybe it was the growl in her voice as she gave her resolute response, “Don’t tell me.”

Reki narrows her already thin eyes, irritated at the woman’s stubbornness, and knowing damn well it’s a bitch to stare down a doujutsu user. It isn’t until the white haired woman bristles and backs down slightly from the black haired woman’s glare that she continues, “fine I won’t spell it out for you,” with a grunting effort Reki grips the Assassin’s arm with her good one, “but know this, that cat has a grudge against your clan, one that’s centuries and generations old,” her grip tightens, digging her fingers into Kemui’s exposed upper arms as much as possible as she stares unblinkingly into the woman’s grey eyes, proving just how serious what she was about to say was, “due to some pact your clan had with a rival clan they managed to subjugate the Nibi before, but only specific members of _that_ clan could hold the beast and maintain their own self,” the hand on the Assassin’s arm trembled, but her eyes stayed firm, “Every generation or so someone in your clan is born different, born with the traits of that rival clan,” due to her unflinching Sharingan Reki saw the pupils in Kemui’s eyes shrink, her hand trembling more as she knew what she had to say, “ ** _You_** were the one that was meant to carry it.”

Kemui just stared, her eyes as wide in surprise as they’d ever been.

Reki winced, partly from her pain and partly because of the shell-shocked look on the white haired woman’s face. It just wasn’t right, and she sure as hell wasn’t used to it. – _Since when does Satsu- no, ‘Kemui’, look so human?_ \- she shifted, trying to get the image out of her mind, damn Sharingan wouldn’t have it so she closed her eyes, “From what I could tell, from what little records the northern clan shared with the one here, the old container was near death,” one blood red eye cracked open, only to see the white haired woman with her head down in thought, “and you were around the right age to transfer the thing since you would have already developed a personality,” she winced, gripping her side and taking a long breath, “I… I take it you weren’t there… ah… w-when the transfer was to take place…”

 Kemui didn’t say anything, just kept her eyes hazed as she seemed to be looking at some long distant memory.

“Heh,” the desk clerk leaned back, trying to relax as much as grievous wounds would allow, “I guess desperate times call for desperate measures…” her eyes trailed to the ceiling, “too bad though.” When the black haired woman’s ‘lazy’ looking eyes come back down they see a cigarette in front of them. Reki blinks her red Mitsudomoe eyes, before breaking out into a grin. She opens her mouth enough to grab the thing, enjoying the familiar feel for a moment before a distinct **_click_** and there’s fire before her. Once the death stick is lit, the older woman takes a long drag before blowing it out her nose, “thanks…”

Kemui extinguishes the lighter and puts it away back in Reki’s front pocket, still oddly quiet.

Reki stares at her once ‘friend’, debating with herself if she should continue or let the woman settle in her own mind first. An urge to cough rose in the desk clerk’s throat, and the wheezing wasn’t getting any better, there was a tug at her consciousness that was black and everything was starting to drag, even her Sharingan was becoming hazy. – _Not a lot of time, huh…_ \- Reki suppressed a cough by taking another drag, breathing out as slowly as possible, “I know you don’t want to hear it, but…” a cough escaped her lips, small drips of blood covering her lips, “that girl is important, she was a baby and held that thing back for at least a year, according to the records that’s almost unheard of.” Red eyes closed, they were getting heavy and even the chakra drain was starting to affect her, “my guess is after what happened, someone from your clan resealed her and took her into hiding, that island… the one you found her on, it must have been a clan safe house,” Reki’s eyes cracked open to look straight at the white haired woman, a morose grin appearing on her face, “I guess the only ones you killed here were the ones stupid enough to get caught up in ninja politics…”

Kemui’s eyes were stern, staring at the dying woman.

Reki gave a bitter laugh, one last grin before the dredges of darkness grabbed hold. She was tired, so, so tired. Slowly her blood red and black eyes closed.

There is an incomprehensible sound from Kemui’s throat, like she wants to say something but no words will dare come out. Her white brows twitch as her eyes gaze at the woman who had taken care of her for a small portion of her life. If Assassins could mourn, this was as close as they got.

The white woman closed her eyes and nodded her head, prepared to leave and continue her hunt…

… So it was rather surprising when what should have been dead swiftly grabbed her around the arm with a grip that should not have been possible. Reki’s eyes were hazy, still baring her bastard’s bloodline but unfocused, this was that last she had in her, “Be wary of that cat, it knows your clan, the one you represent not the Assassins,” her grip tightened and her black brows narrowed, “It knows your abilities, you can’t fight it alone,” with strength the dead should not possess, Reki pulled the white Assassin as close to her as possible, Kemui’s single glowing rimmed grey eye mere centimeters from hazy Sharingan ones, “Trust me. Get. Help.” there was a definite growl in the dying woman’s rasping voice, “For once in your stubborn ass life, do what I tell you…” for a moment her hazy blood colored eyes hold the Assassin’s…

… Then her head lulls, arm going slack and her eyes close.

Kemui stares, eyes and face completely blank.

Then she stands up and turns away, “Hai… Taichou…” and she quickly leaves, she has a demon to hunt, a small girl to save, and when it was all over, a dear friend to bury.

Batsuko stays behind a moment, watching as the dog leaves; its whipping thin white tails behind her as her frustration and simmering anger keeps itself in check just the slightest under her skin. The mythic creature can feel it, the anguish and sorrow in the woman’s heart, she truly believes her ‘un-mother’ is dead. The Bakeneko’s unusual emerald eyes turn back to the black haired blood-eye user, narrowing slightly as it waits for that final moment.

One moment, then two, even three pass and still the creature fails to release its soul.

A long ear flicks in both irritation and amusement. For one of ‘ _those_ ’ kind it is surprisingly resilient, ignoring the Shinigami’s call and instead basking in the sheer nothingness of unconsciousness. The cat rises, takes a step or two forward and stares closer at the bloodied woman.

After a moment it grins. There is no reason to step over this corpse.

\------

Cinder Dragon – ShinderDoragon

Mitsudomoe – A conjunction of three Tomoe swirling around each other (Mitsu – Threefold, Domoe- Variant spelling of Tomoe)

Tomoe – a Japanese symbol that looks like a comma, or the usual form of a Magatama


	6. Darkness

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Are those zombies?

\-----

It was dark…

The first thing she noticed was the absolute blackness, either a complete lack of light or there was really nothing around her.

Yorihi gasped opening her eyes to see nothing around her instinctively pushing herself up off the dark floor. There were no sounds, just her panting quick breaths as her head swiveled around trying to find something, anything that would tell her where she was. She didn’t sense anyone around her, not her Father, Uncle, Big Sister or her Teacher. The little girl placed a hand over her mouth, trying to calm her quickly shortening breathes.

- _Why does this keep happening?_ \- was the first coherent thought in her mind. This would be the third time wouldn’t it? That someone had taken her away, just when she thought she could be staying with her ‘new’ family forever. The little girl gulped, placing both hands over her mouth to try and stem the whine that wanted to escape, she didn’t want to cry but already she could feel the fluid building in her eyes just daring to come out.

- ** _What’s with that look… you knew this would happen…_** -

The little girl’s white eyes widened, that wasn’t her voice, it couldn’t have been her voice…

- ** _You knew sooner or later someone else would come…_** -

- _No!_ \- she closed her eyes, keeping them tightly shut not even caring about the tears squeezed out in the process.

- ** _Tch…_** \- despite her eyes being closed Yorihi knew there was something out there, in that darkness even her eyes couldn’t see through. She felt it, something huge, something mean using her voice against her. She shuttered as the presence seemed to move closer. – ** _What makes you think I’m not you?_** -

“B-because…” she breathed in gulping breaths behind her hands, keeping her eyes closed too scared to face whatever was in the darkness, “I-I wo-wouldn’t w-want this…”

The large presence seemed to stalk around her, something swishing as it went by. – ** _Who said anything about what you want? This is just a truth you knew…_** -

The small girl’s body clinched, her tiny blue-black brows furrowing, “Y-you’re wrong, I-I didn’t think this would happen!” she tried shouting, tried to sound at least a little bit confident, her Father had taught her to be loud, taught her to not be afraid or at least not show it.

A rumbling sound came from the presence. – ** _You knew you’d be taken again… it’s what happens to you, the people around you grow tired and bored of you and let you get taken away…_** -

Yorihi lowered her hands, clinching them into tight fists. Her Uncle had taught her to be calm, laugh at things that made you angry, especially when someone else told you a lie. She forced a grin over clinched teeth, tried laughing despite what the ‘ _thing_ ’ said, “HA! They wouldn’t leave me!” she shouted, trying to make herself as confident as she sounded. She knew her ‘new’ family, for two years they kept her, taught her, protected her, “They wouldn’t let something like **_YOU_** take me away!!” she pointed defiantly at the creature in the darkness, even if she still had her eyes closed.

The rumbling sound from the monster grew louder. – ** _Foolish child…_** \- it slipped up, and Yorihi caught it, it really wasn’t her after all. – ** _They are who they are, murders and thieves, they don’t care about you… Don’t give a damn about you except for your power… for your eyes!_** -

Despite her new found confidence Yorihi flinched at that. As much as she didn’t want to admit it, that had been something that had plagued her since the incident with her ‘former’ uncle. The little girl deflated slightly, lost in her own thoughts. She had seen two of her clansmen killed by her Teacher, her uncle… ‘ _Hinata’s_ ’ uncle nearly killed but instead mutilated, scarred for life and never would be able to use his… ‘ _their_ ’ clan’s eyes again…

The monster stepped closer, circling the little girl…

Yorihi’s breathing started to pick up. Doubts about the people she lived with, about her real purpose here. They wanted her to be strong, taught her such, kept advancing her studies, kept focusing on her abilities, kept pushing her in ways her ‘ _clan_ ’ never would have…

The little girl couldn’t see it, but in the darkness the beast smiled… a wicked and wide thing reminiscent of a grinning cat…

- _Is that all I am to them?_ \- the prickling at her eyes started again, the tears threatening to fall. Yorihi placed both hands on her head feeling trapped by the discovery that nothing she thought was what it seemed…

“ _Yorihi…_ ”

She blinked surprised by the sound… was that her Father?

“ _Yori-chan!_ ”

Her Uncle’s voice? The little girl raised her head, where were they? Were they looking for her?

The rumbling of the beast increased as its presence increased around her, blanketing her in the darkness. – ** _Seems I have to deal with this myself…_** -

Confused Yorihi turned towards the voice, the thing using her voice against her, but as soon as she opened her eyes to catch a glimpse of the thing it was gone and she was left alone in the darkness…

-=-

The Raikage frowned at the sight in front of him, Yugito seemingly possessed by the Nibi as it showed itself in shadows on the wall holding his daughter unconscious in her arms. His small blonde brows furrowed, there was more than one thing completely wrong with this picture.

“Hey, yo bro,” Bee said next to him, poking at his shades, “Sumtin’s up with the girl, she ain’t herself,” his own frown increased at the sight of his student doing the unthinkable. The Ushi-Oni container never thought the girl would have succumbed to the influence of the Nibi, had thought she’d had the damn thing under control. Now for this, “dunno what’s goin’ on, but I’m about to find out myself…” slowly the large tattooed man drew one of his swords, fully intent on figuring out this nonsense right now.

The large hand of his brother in front of him was the only thing that stopped him from attacking his student. The Hachibi-container looked at his brother, frown distinct on his face and eyebrows low asking the obvious question.

The Raikage kept his eyes on the cat, “Touch my Daughter with that blade of yours and I’ll start lobbing off tails at my leisure,” Killer Bee noticeably flinched at the threat, gulping as he slid his sword back into place. Once the blade was gone the larger Oni-esque man in front of him lowered his arm, still glaring at the cat in front of him hands clinching into fists, “We’ll do this old fashioned way…”

Bee gave a wide grin, showing off his larger canines as he punched one hand into the other in front of his chest, “Well Bro, if you think it’ll work,” he undid his fists, widening his legs and entering a modified horse stance, “let’s show ‘em whose boss and get rid of this Turk!”

For a moment, a very small moment, the Raikage frowned at his brother before setting into his own stance, “That was a sucky-ass rhyme.”

Bee pout-frowned at him, “You suck,” was his retort before looking back at his possessed student and kidnapped niece, “Let’s just get ‘er back…”

“Hmp,” was all the Raikage had to say, like his brother even needed to tell him that.

One moment they were both glaring at the Nibi-possessed Yugito across the space of the Raikage’s office, the next lightning struck and the two were across the floor, coming in at opposite sides, fists drawn back to knock the living daylights out of the teenaged girl.

The Cat only gave the smallest of grins as the brothers approached…

As their fists came down, neither hesitated, neither concerned themselves with what may happen to Yugito if they actually hit her. Bee knew her the best and knew that if she was still in there she was fighting the cat as well and if it meant her death she’d gladly take it to keep his brother’s little girl safe.

Unfortunately, as their fists were about to connect the Nibi sneered, disappearing and in its place leaving what looked like two corpses of long dead warriors. Unable or unwilling to end their attacks, the brothers dove their fists into the dried husks, snapping the necks back and lobbing the heads right off with a disturbing crunch. The bodies fell to the floor as the bothers landed, standing still trying to find the possessed woman with frowns marring their distinct features.

“Where’d she go?” Bee said, looking out into the now darker room. With the lightning gone the place was nearly black, “Damn, is it just me or is this place lookin’ darker ‘n it should be?”

The Raikage frowned, keeping his eyes peeled for the slightest movement. Something was wrong, where’d the Nibi go with his daughter? Why did the room suddenly seem so much more foreboding? And what the hell was with those corpses?

An eerie moaning made itself known and despite themselves the two powerful men couldn’t repress the small shiver they both felt. The sound was like something dying and coming from behind them…

Bee and the Raikage shared a small glance before turning around and punching the hell out of whatever was creeping them out behind them. They hit them square in the chest with enough force to send whatever-it-was into the column on the far wall. When the dust cleared the two could easily tell what it was they just hit, and both just stared wide-eyed for a moment.

In the dust of the pillar and dark room was one of the corpses that the Nibi had used for a substitution. It seemed to jerk a moment before its head fell off… again.

Bee looked decidedly more disgusted then his brother, “Yo, Bro, didn’t we just knock that sucka’s head off a second ago?” he adjusted his shades, trying to get a better look at the thing.

The Raikage put his fists on his hips, something wasn’t right, “Where’d the other one go?”

“Uh-?” was as far as Bee got since as soon as he turned to his brother another corpse jumped on his back. Startled at the _sudden_ attack from a corpse the Jinchuuriki couldn’t help but scream, “AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!” as he took off running around with the thing on his back.

His big brother suppressed the urge to roll his eyes… before turning on his heel and shoving his fist into another corpse. It went flying into another wall, cracking it and dropping unceremoniously on the ground. The Raikage narrowed his eyes, what was with these corpses? He turned to the one they’d grounded earlier in the pillar only to see it readjusting its head, as if cracking its neck, and making its way out of the small pile of rubble it was in and pulling out what looked like a kunai. At the sight of the lumbering, battle ready corpse the blonde man couldn’t help but raise a brow. – _What the hell?_ -

At the sound of shattering bone the large man turned to see that his brother had dispatched the corpse on his back. Bee was huffing in a slightly hysteric way, “Da Fuck?! Zombies! The damn thing set Zombies on us!!”

The Raikage didn’t want to admit it, but even he felt that was a kind of fucked up thing for the demonic cat to do. He grumbled to himself but got into a battle ready stance, if it was Zombies between him and his daughter then so be it, he’d smash every single one of them and get her back. With his thoughts solidified, the large imposing Oni of a man Gouzen Jinrai attacked the growing horde with merciless abandon.

Bee punched another zombie, watching his brother go crazy as he made his way out of the room. The Jinchuuriki sighed to himself as he followed his brother’s destruction, punching, kicking, and whatever any he passed that decided to get back up, “Maaaaan, Sista’ better be doin’ better ‘n us…”

-=-

Kemui resisted the urge to sneeze; this was not the time…

She plunged her dagger into the throat of another dried up husk, growling as the thing did not bleed but gave off the same disgusting scent as all the others. It wasn’t a satisfying kill, not a challenging kill, nothing about these things was right. The white woman ripped her blade out of its dried flesh, kicking it to the ground only to move on to the next one down the hall.

After leaving Reki to die in peace, she had trailed the Nibi’s chakra, for being a powerhouse demon bent on eluding and tormenting her it certainly had no qualms about leaving a _convenient_ trail to follow. Kemui knew it was a trap but it was the only lead on the thing she had. She needed to get to it and rescue Yorihi, something in the back of her mind itched, telling her that the sooner the better, that the damn cat was trying to do something worse to the poor girl then just taking her away to piss her off. As she turned a hall, feeling much closer to the beast then she had previously, the white haired assassin had been rather startled to find the thing completely littered with the bodies of dozens of shinobi.

The Assassin had blinked her dichotomously glowing eyes, her mind trying to figure out how a hall in the Raikage’s tower could suddenly look like an ancient battlefield left long and forgotten. She had stepped cautiously, gripping her dagger tightly, her senses telling her of danger all over the place but all she saw were corpses; some old, some new, some ancient and nothing but bones, and even a few disturbingly fresh ones baring emblems of rival villages. – _Were these Yugito’s kills?_ \- the white haired woman’s mind couldn’t help but notice that the fresher ones looked to be from places the young blonde had been sent out on missions. Had Yugito unknowingly been adding to the Nibi’s collection of bodies? Kemui tensed at the thought, eyes narrowing as she stood firmly in the center of the hall. – _What would the Nibi need with corpses?_ -

Behind the white haired woman Batsuko hopped over another body. The Bakeneko frowned, this wasn’t exactly the right use of its powers, but damn it all, what the Nibi was doing… The ghost cat bristled as it leapt another body. There were too many of them, it couldn’t leap over them all, not quick enough. Its odd emerald eyes turned on the dog, stupid thing was walking right into the trap, not giving it enough time before she sprung it…

Taking one more step, Kemui spun on her heel and gripped her right hand around the neck of one of the ‘fresher’ bodies, glaring at it a moment before digging her fingers in its throat, snapping its neck and ripping out its trachea. She growled low in her throat, letting the body drop, she was an Assassin for Kami’s sake, a body attacking her was a body dead, even if it was already dead, she’d sure as hell make it stop moving one way or another.

Another spin and she dropped her heel on another’s head with enough force to disconnect the skull to the floor. Another had her dagger in it, another an elbow, knee, whatever part of her she could hit them with she did.

Batsuko blinked at the flurry the woman attacked the undead. It hadn’t honestly expected them to stop her, but the fact that they weren’t even slowing her down was… impressive. Another body landed on the ground and the Bakeneko moved towards it. These things the Nibi employed wouldn’t stay down for long but they did take a moment to regenerate. Long ears flicked as it glanced at the whirlwind of grey and white, slowly adding black blood to the mix, the dog certainly knew how to put them down quicker than they could get back up, it would at least give her that.

It leapt over the body; Batsuko had seen many others pause at the sight of dead rising to fight again, but not this dog. Leaping over another body it wondered if she simply had no empathy for those that died or if it was the wolves’ blood in her that drove her to not care and simply kill everything in her path? The ghostly cat snorted as another went down and it had to leap over another body, efficient she was at least, once he’d gotten all the already fallen ones…

When her instincts told her that nothing else was attacking Kemui finally stopped. Breathing hard, she took a moment to steady herself, gripping her blade tightly for dear life. She was an Assassin, meant to kill in one blow her target and any guards they had. This, this was fighting a small army and the white haired woman was starting to regret her own training. She didn’t have the stamina to keep going like other Shinobi, she had to stop and rest as all her attacks so far had been instinctive counters, attacks without her thought or consent and only to keep her alive. They were strong and powerful blows that would have killed ‘normal’ living people but already she had noticed these corpses got back up quickly enough to come at her again and again. If the damn things weren’t so obviously mindless the white woman honestly thought she’d be dead by now.

A twitch and pull on her instincts had her turning, drawing her blade ready to screwier whatever was coming next…

… only for her to blink grey eyes at the sight of a corpse trying to raise only for it to fall flat, dead, as Batsuko leapt over it.

The Ghost cat sat at her feet, staring up at her with its curious emerald eyes, as if wondering what the hell she was doing just staring at it.

Kemui lowers her blade at the sight of the prong-tailed cat. Walking dead, cat’s leaping over bodies, young women possessed by evil spirit cats, this whole damn thing was starting to sound like one of those stories Tougemichi used to tell her as he beat her into the ground during training. The white haired woman suppressed a growl at the ghostly creature as her brows twitched downward…

… And suddenly the wall behind her seemed to explode as though a bulldozer had just run through it.

Barely startled and not showing it, Kemui turns around, seeing her Lord being the one to run through the wall with his Lightning Aura activated as he crushed three more zombies. There’s a _slight_ sigh that passes between her lips at the sight of him.

Sensing that _disapproving_ sigh, the Raikage turns around and spots the smaller form of the white haired woman. He blinks his beady little eyes at her a moment, trying to make sure she is in fact standing right behind him. Out of nowhere he punches one of the zombies that was trying to get back up, only for it to fall on the other two into a pile of moaning uselessness. The sound catch’s the Assassin’s attention and she fully opens her eyes to stare at the _mild_ destruction her Lord caused. With her eyes now open the Raikage notices something strange, her left eye had a glowing ring around the grey iris while the other was normal, “Kemui, your eye…?”

The woman startles a moment, an odd thing for her to do, as her right hand jumps almost instinctively to cover her non-glowing one, “It’s nothing…” she says in a low voice, keeping her visible eye turned away.

The large man frowns at her, finding her actions strange, “Inform me later,” he looks around noticing a distinct lack of moving corpses, “We have a job to do…” and with that he turns around completely, going after the few that are starting to get up.

Kemui takes in a deep breath, not realizing she had held it as he was looking at her, “Hai, Lord Raikage,” she mutters lowering her arm, thankful for the reprieve. For a moment she watches her Lord’s back as he mows through the zombies further down the hall, a _slight_ smirk rising on her lips as he was _almost_ as efficient at killing them as she was. His blows had a lot more force behind them, especially with his lightning aura, so they stayed down longer and often dazed or disrupted others, but his style was so… brutish to her, not subtle or efficient at all. The _slight_ smirk threatened to become a full blown smirk as the woman took a step to join her Lord in battle…

… Only for her to startle again as another bulldozer hole was made not far behind her.

“Yo Sista’!!” of course it was Killer Bee, grinning like an idiot as he gave a mock salute to the Assassin as she turned half-glowing eyes on him. His grin widens at the bland look she gives him… before leaping out of the way as the white-haired woman throws a small knife in his direction, “Yo, yo, hey, what the-” another knife from the Assassin as the larger man dodges, before he can throw out another question to why she’s throwing cutlery at him something catches in the corner of his eye. Looking behind him for the first time the Ushi-Oni container notices two zombies with Kemui’s throwing knives deep in an eye socket. A knife wound like that, on a normal person, would have been immediately fatal, and Bee can only stare at the bodies as the Bakeneko hops over them both. He turns back to the Assassin woman and just pouts.

She grins, actually grins at him, smugly but that’s not the point, “No rhymes?”

Bee shutters as one of his blonde brows twitch, “Dat’s just creepy…”

Her oddly half-glowing eyes narrow a bit jovially at the larger man before she tugs at an invisible string in her right hand and pulls back her throwing knives. They give a squishy sound as they’re pulled from the rotted sockets of the corpses and Kemui quickly grabs them, stashing them back in some hidden pocket Bee couldn’t decipher from her quick movements as she turned to follow his brother back into battle.

The Jinchuuriki just openly pouts at the retreating woman… before reaching out and punching another random zombie’s head off. He looks down at the cat as it leaps over the zombie with his hands on his hips, “Guess it’s just you ‘n me pussy-cat?”

Batsuko spares the Ushi-Oni container one look, blinks, then continues on its duty of absorbing the souls of the fallen so their bodies don’t rise again, leaving Bee all by himself.

“Tsk,” the large man openly pouts, “Maaaaan, ya’ll suck…” before following after his brother, friend, and apparent feline companion.

-=-

The darkness was quiet.

The weird other voice hadn’t come back for some time and Yorihi kept getting strange feelings like something was creeping all around her. Something stalking around her, watching, waiting for something.

The little girl tucked her knees between her arms and curled into a ball trying to become as small as possible. It wasn’t something ‘ _Yorihi_ ’ should have been doing but it had been a habit of ‘ _Hinata’s’_ back in her old life, the few times she hid in the hall closet to get away from training. The little midnight-blue haired girl shivered at the thought, the empty darkness scaring her enough to bring back ‘old’ feelings and habits… things she’d thought she’d rid herself of two years ago.

- _What if its right…_ -

The thought flitted into her mind before she could filter it out. It was the darkness, the loneliness, the feel of the place was just off and scaring her, that’s what it was…

- _I **am** scared…_ -

Was the next thought.

A whimper escaped the little girl’s throat, it was the first thing she’d heard since the other-one had left taking that large presence with it. It was so strange to suddenly _hear_ something the little five year old jumped and released another squeak.

- _It’s just me…_ -

Hand over her heart the little girl attempted to get a hold of her gasping breathes. It was so strange to suddenly hear so much yet see absolutely nothing.

- _hmm…_ -

There was a sudden comfort in the idea, hearing all but seeing nothing.

- _I wonder…_ -

The little girl closed her white eyes, seeing the dots of light behind her eyelids as opposed to the perfect blackness of the outer world. She blinked with her eyes closed, quickly opening them and looking around the darkness.

- _Is this what it truly means to be blind?_ -

It had been a curiosity of hers, since the day she had come to her family she had been told she was blind, but all they said was to act as if she couldn’t see anything… yet she saw _EVERYTHING_ just about all the time, especially when her eyes were ‘active’…

- _how… strange?_ -

It was an interesting enough distraction, taking in what it truly meant to be blind, seeing absolutely nothing.

**_ Ching! _ **

Then there was a strange sound.

**_ Ching! _ **

The little girl’s ear twitched as the sound repeated.

**_ Ching! _ **

“Bells?” she jumped slightly at the sudden voice before realizing it was her own and quickly slapping a hand over her mouth. Someone very important always told her the importance of silence, praising her naturally quiet nature as opposed to her father and uncle’s very loud nature.

**_ Ching! _ **

She blinked white eyes in the black abyss. – _Someone… important?_ -

**_ Ching! _ **

Why was that such an important thing? Why did it matter if she _knew_ who this person was or not?

**_ Ching! _ **

Why did it hurt in her chest when she couldn’t remember that person?

**_ Ching! _ **

The one that taught her so much, cared so much, was always there…

**_ Ching! _ **

“Shiro…” white eyes blinked and became wide, _white_ , it was important, it was part of that person, something that defined them, something special…

**_ Ching! _ **

Absently the little girl’s hand brushed along the braids that framed her face, sparking recognition. The braids, the white person had braids, seven of them, four that framed their face and three that were long and thin like tails… she admired that person and wanted to be like them so she’d asked her sister to braid her hair like theirs…

**_ Ching! _ **

There was a sudden pain in her head, something black pushing in, trying to keep her from remembering that person.

Yorihi put her left hand on her head over her eye where the pain was. Was it in her eyes? Was it trying to get into her eyes? Why was that both horrifying and important? Why couldn’t she remember where she was or why?

The little girl braced herself on her other hand, almost going so far as she bash her head against the ground to stop the pain. What had that person said about pain? Ignore it, put it aside, concentrate on something else, anything else just stay focused on the task at-

The bells had stopped.

Yorihi looked up with her half opened right eye, there sitting in front of her was a yellow cat with bright blue eyes and two full tails.

-=-

As the trio of Kumo’s best make it through the labyrinthine halls destroying as many zombies as possible, Kemui explains to the brothers as much as she knew about the situation while catching her breath. The Assassin had to take the situation with a grain of salt, she was meant for infiltration and quick kills, this long drawn out fighting was not something she’d ever trained for. While she could take out small groups of the zombies quicker and more efficiently than the brothers they could still spew out electrified punch after punch and bulldozer through walls to take out larger groups without breaking a sweat. A small part of her mind wondered if the Tower would still be standing when this was all over…

The white woman took a deep breath as she stood up straight, the Raikage having just dealt with the zombies in front and Batsuko was handling the ‘purification’ as they started to call what the finicky feline did to make them ‘stop’, in the back. She looked at her lord, he hadn’t said anything about the information she’d given and like previously with Reki she was getting impatient with this situation, they needed to find the Nibi, stop whatever the psychotic demon cat was doing and save Yorihi. She couldn’t help it if her voice came out little more than a snarl, “Lord Raikage…”

The large man breathed out, relaxing his position just slightly, still alert for the next batch of ‘undead’ to come after then, “Hmp,” his beady black eyes stared ahead, narrowed as his mind sifted through the information. He took a step forward and the woman silently followed him, grey eyes still boring into his back, “This is all accurate information?” he kept his voice neutral, still not sure what to think about it.

Kemui ruffled but pushed the growl threatening to escape her throat down, he half-glowing eyes narrowed on his back, “Reki would not lie to me…”

The large oni-esque man turned to look over his shoulder at her, his black eyes becoming seemingly passive as he took in her alert, aggressive and if he didn’t know any better ‘pissed’ stance. The woman was angry, genuinely, openly **_angry_** and she wasn’t afraid to lash it out at him if it got her what she needed. A small blonde brow rose, he hadn’t seen her like this since… “I never doubted one of my jounin’s validity, I was just wondering if the information she ‘found’ was true…” he turned slightly to half-face her, standing sideways in the hall while looking down at the agitated white haired woman, “Why was she even looking in the archives for such information anyway?” his voice wasn’t harsh, exceptionally firm and laced with killer intent meant to keep Kemui in her place.

The woman didn’t so much as bat an eye, eyes glaring at him like poised daggers, “She looked up that information at _my_ request,” those daggers lowered to the floor, not able to hold up their threat anymore, “There were things I wanted to know…” out of the corner of her glowing left eye she spotted Killer Bee and nailed him to the spot with a mild glare, “About _‘certain_ ’ people…”

The larger Ushi-Oni gulped, fidgeting a moment as he smashed a zombies head before it got up again as the bakeneko was still making its rounds.

Batsuko could only roll its unusually colored eyes, all this human drama wasn’t helping with their ‘mission’… even if it did give it the time to gather all these lost souls…

The Raikage sighed heavily, running his hand over his blonde braids, “Woman always had a knack for finding out what should have stayed buried…”

Grey eyes shifted to the large man instantly at his statement. They narrowed as her mind finally brought forth the information about her ‘comrade’ that she never knew before watching her die, “Her eyes…” she said lowly, narrowing her glance when he looked her way, finding no reason to say more. If he knew that was more than enough…

The large man’s hand stilled on his head, his small black eyes finding her fierce off-color ones and a frown graced his lips, “Previous Raikage’s project,” his hands lowered to his belt, completely uncomfortable and disgusted with some of the things his grandfather had done.

The wolf woman takes some solace in that, her Lord knew but respected the woman’s privacy and never spoke of it, apparently disapproving of the methods she had ‘acquired’ such things in the first place. The assassin’s mind wondered at all the possibilities that statement could mean, all the things she never asked Reki, all the things she should have. Her eyes caught on the bakeneko leaping over a particularly old looking zombie. Its armor was old, practically ancient lacquered wood in plates with the crest of a ‘swallow’ on it. Her eyes fixated on that crest, she’d seen it before, long ago in the north. A small frown marred her thin lips as her eyes scanned other entities with similar armor, some old, some ‘newer’ with variations on the armor, but the crest was there. White brows furrowed as she stated her observations, “Some of these bodies look like my clansmen…”

Both brothers blinked and looked at her before turning to the zombie bodies littered about.

Kemui crouched over the one she had been looking at and ran her pale fingers delicately over the ancient crest.

Bee fidgeted, stumbling away from zombie piles, “Sista’ you serious!?” his shades darted up and down the hall, looking over the corpses and seeing a small crest unfamiliar to him on several of them, especially the one the woman was crouched in front of, “Thought them Assassin’s liked bein’ mysterious? No clan that outta touch would have a crest like such,” he pointed at the crest she was running her fingers over.

The white haired woman deeply sighed, she did _not_ need Bee being _Bee_ right now, “Visual and internal,” she growled out removing her hand and staring at the crest. She could practically _hear_ the man grumble behind her in the defense of his rhymes and she looked over her shoulder and sent him a cold steel glare, “And I never said it was my _recent_ clansmen, this crest,” she pointed at it, “Was on old documents I found in our library as a child,” both men raised a blonde brow at her as she turned away, not able to retain her composure to keep her own mouth shut and angry at herself for it, “Swallows are adaptive birds, they pass in and out of societies without notice or even a glance, their songs are varied and unique and easy to use as signals, and they are efficient hunters; capturing and consuming their food mid-flight and in one fell swoop…” she absently ran her hand over the old crest again before standing up and just staring at her clan’s history, “When the association became ‘obvious’ my elders abandoned our pride…” the assassin turned away in a clipped step, walking away from the shame.

Bee just stared with his mouth open, the white haired woman never talked about her clan before, especially with all that happened between them. His hand rose, pointing between the armor and her retreating form but the words weren’t following it. The Ushi-Oni container looked at his brother trying to make sense of what just happened.

The Raikage frowned, furrowing his brows at his brother and mildly shaking his head to tell him to drop it before turning and following the assassin. The large man makes it to her, following her in step for a few moments, not even glancing her way before taking an extra step forward so that he is walking _just_ in front of her, reestablishing their rightful order.

To the side, a mild tilt raises the edge of Kemui’s lips, glad for the normalcy.

“Ugh,” Killer Bee just shivered, not noticing his brother and Kemui, looking down at the Bakeneko as it purified the zombies, “Man, this is jus’ disturbin’…” he nudged one of the fallen bodies with his foot, jumping back with a jerk as the head fell clean off, “Ugh!” there was a sense rolling across his shoulders and the shades wearing jinchuuriki looked up noticing his brother giving a flat glare and Kemui with her weirdly glowing eyes closed but otherwise motionless, “What?!” he couldn’t help it, this was starting to really freak him out… okay, so they’d been smashing zombie for the past however long and in-between wangsting about Yorihi and other stuff being revealed he wasn’t really paying attention to. Bee cared about two things at this moment, his niece and his student, girl had been messed up before all this shenanigans and now the cat pulling some crazy coup on his adorable little niece and-

Killer-Bee suddenly stood stock still as something that should have crossed his mind finally did…

“I got it!!” the large dark skinned Jinchuuriki shouted in the mostly empty hall with fists pumped, if he noticed his brother and rhyming-nemesis jump slightly he made no motion of it, “I think I know what that cat’s up too!!”

The Raikage’s beady black eyes just glared at his brother unconvinced.

Grey dichotomously glowing eyes blinked, “No rhyme?”

Bee stuck out his lower lip in an angry pout, “Ain’t the time sista’,” when the woman’s white brow rose he completely ignored it, facing more his brother and ignoring the strange confusion on the Assassin’s face, “’Member how I was tellin’ you about how Yugi-chan was having a hard time talking with the cat?” the Raikage got about as far as ‘uh’ before Bee posed with one finger pointing out and grinning like a madman, “Checkit! Girl’s been tellin’ me about these weird dreams of late, an’ that last mission she collapsed after some freaky shit went down with her team-”

“And she has been telling strange stories to Yorihi,” The white haired assassin nodded slightly, almost in agreement.

“That ain’t a symptom!!” the larger man pointed at the tiny-by-comparison-woman, “And stop crimpin’!”

“Slant,” her eyes narrowed the slightest bit, “And it may well be,” the white woman pointed to a body the Bakeneko had just leapt over, since _it_ was still doing _its_ job unlike the silly humans standing around, “notice something about the ‘fresher’ ones?”

Bee clicked his tongue and poked his shades, examining the juicy corpse, “Ugh, they smell worse…” he could just _feel_ those grey steel eyes on his back, along with his brother’s frightening ones. The Ushi-Oni container coughed into his hand, “Uh, I mean… guy was from… uh, Iwa?”

If Kemui were a more expressive person, which was a dangerous possibility with her being in a decidedly unstable mood, she’d smack the Ushi-Oni upside the head and growl at him. Surprisingly her left hand was raised behind his blonde head before she spotted her Lord in the corner of her eye. gripping her hand tightly she jerkily brought it to her side before _correcting_ the rapper-wannabe, “Actually the man is from a bandit group team Wann, Tuu, Trii took out for their last mission…” her eyes narrowed when the jinchuuriki turned around a recognition forming across his brows, “The last mission she had where ‘strange things happened’ and she collapsed…” Kemui glared into the larger man’s shades, sending home the point she was making.

There was a grunt not far behind her, “So what does it all mean?” the Raikage wasn’t a patient man and standing around wasn’t getting him any closer to rescuing his daughter and possibly killing their unstable asset.

Kemui’s jaw clinched and that was the only motion she made, “The stories she told Yorihi were about the people she killed,” the woman looked down at the corpse unfamiliar with it since Yugito hadn’t had the chance to reveal this one’s story if her theory was right, “I’ve suspected for some time that the ‘stories’ she creates are actually the essence or memories of those she kills,” her eyes were sharp as she caught the intake of breath from the jinchuuriki and they zeroed in on him, “You know the stories about Nekomata don’t you? How they can control the dead…”

“Pfft…” Bee snorted, crossing his arms, “Say they gotta be 10 year old cats that turn into beautiful naked women that can talk too,” he shrugged trying to remain unconvinced, “Don’t see any of those around,” the grin he gave was meant to dissipate the tension in the air, all he got was a sharp look from the Assassin and his brother stopped paying attention and started walking down the hall.

“Yugito and Yorihi,” the white woman’s eyes were sharp as she glared at the Ushi-Oni container, “the Nibi is old enough it doesn’t _need_ to assume human form…” the woman’s jaw clinched and Bee could have sworn he heard a growl in it as she turned to follow his brother. Biting out her final words he barely caught, “… not when it can just take it.”

Killer-Bee groaned, slamming his fist into a wall completely destroying it. His teeth were clinched and his sharp canines were showing. Damn woman was right, always was, “Should ‘a paid more attention to her, listened when she said she’d had trouble sleepin’ and them dreams,” his fist tightened as he stood straight with a scowl on his face, looking forward at the retreating forms of his brother and the Assassin, “When this is all over, I’m takin’ that girl to the island so we can sort this business out!!” with his decision made Bee was fired up to take on the Nibi, rescue his niece and knock some sense into his student.

He didn’t notice the agreeing nods of his companions.

\-----

Yami - Darkness

\-----


	7. Child of Punishment

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The Raikage, his brother, and assassin, make it to the top of the tower...

“Neko… chan…?” the little white eyed girl blinked at the sudden wash of color in the darkness. It was a cat, a golden, blue-eyed, twin-tailed cat.

It blinked at her.

The little girl blinked back, not sure what to do about the sudden appearance of a strange cat, something about this ringing a bell in the back of her mind. There was a pressure in her head, behind her eyes, something just felt off as she brought a hand up to the side of her face, “Neko-chan… is that you?”

“Well, it’s me, if that’s what you’re asking?” it suddenly said.

In an instant the little girl was on her feet, braced in a bad kata stance but just as freaked out and willing to fight, “Y-y-you talk!”

Blue eyes blinked again before the strange feline looked down at itself. An ear twitched as it seemed just as confused as her, “Well that’s not what I expected when I thought to come rescue you,” the golden cat gave a dramatic sigh, flicking its tails one way than the other.

“Ano…” the battle stance didn’t quite lower but the white eyed girl seemed slightly less tense, something about the cat’s voice reminded her of someone, her head tilted slightly, “rescue me?”

The cat looked at her with a raised whiskered brow, “Yea, rescue,” it blinked confused, “Yorihi, don’t you know where you are?”

The tilt angle of the little girl’s head increased, “Where? Yorihi?”

The cat’s sapphire eyes went wide as it leapt on to all fours, “Yorihi, don’t you remember!? You were kidnapped by my body, this…” the cat raised a paw trying to move it in the appropriate gesture but failing miserably so it swished its tails in reference of the blackness around them, “This is all the Nibi’s doing, we’re trapped inside its head!!”

White eyes blinked, the little five year old seemed even more confused than before, “I don’t understand Neko-chan? How are we inside something’s… h-head?”

The cat gave a long drawn out sigh before sitting back down, “Damnit, I didn’t even know anyone else _was_ here until I felt the Nibi’s chakra surge this way,” absently the little golden kitty started preening, causing a raised brow from the little girl, “then it flips out and I have to wait just to be sure it’s gone and what do I find? The confirmation that my nightmare was real…” the cat dropped the paw it had been licking and seemed to overall slump, practically screaming ‘why me!’

“Um… Neko-chan?” the little girl lowered her stance, crouching to come level with the sulking cat. She reached a hand out to touch it but halted her fingers just a few inches from its fur, “I-is…” she swallowed deeply, something in the back of her mind telling her to be strong, “Is something wrong?”

The cat looked at her under hooded eyes, its tails swishing from side to side, “I just said we’re stuck in the Nibi’s brain so yes, something is wrong,” its sapphire eyes narrowed on the little girl, “Yorihi are you… okay?”

The little girl’s head started to hurt at the question, her white eyes squinting as a pressure was building behind her eyes, “Something… wrong?” her hand on her head clinched, “Head… hurts…” then the little girl collapsed on her hands and knees, on hand still holding her head while the other supported her. Her head hurt so bad.

“Yorihi!!” the cat jumped up on its paws, tail and hair puffed out, “Hey! Stay with me!!”

“Yu…” there was a word on the tip of her tongue, something important, a word for the voice that she recognized, “Yu… gi…” it was almost there, but the pressure came back fourfold, feeling like it was crushing her eyes, “Aaagh!” the hand on Yorihi’s head slammed on the invisible floor as everything in the little girl seemed to give out. Despite the pain though and the feeling of something dark she had it, that word that was trying too hard to come to her, “Yugito-nee-chan!!”

The golden cat grinned sinisterly, “Yeesss,” it hissed with that Cheshire grin as it approached the downed child, “I’m Yugito, your precious Nee-chan,” its tails waved back and forth as the cat came upon the little girl, leaning down to speak to her closer, “I’m here to help you…”

The little girl reached out a hand, just an inch from the feline’s golden wispy fur, “Nee-chan, my head,” Yorihi’s eyes were closed as one hand reached for her ‘elder sister’ while the other held her eyes, the pain, the invasion, something was so wrong, “Make it stop, it hurts…”

The cat’s Cheshire grin grew, “Don’t worry Yorihi-chan, Nee-chan will make it all better…” and the golden cat approached, so close to reaching the child, so close to being accepted and allowed in, so close…

“GET AWAY FROM HER!!”

The Nibi jumped back from the downed child as something gold swiped it across the face. Damn her, damn her to the lowest pit in hell! Immediately the Nibi’s wispy golden fur was on end as the color slowly drained out of it, “To hell with you, child!!”

“Nee-chan?” Yorihi asked weakly, feeling the invasive pressure ebbing as the fake-Yugito stepped away, only for another golden feline to have taken its place.

“Are you alright?” this one seemed different, it wasn’t its presence as they both felt the same but something about its movements, its mannerisms as it turned its golden head to look behind her and gaze at the little girl with black iron eyes, even if they were hard Yorihi felt a wave of relief at those familiar black orbs.

“Yugito-nee-chan!!” in an instant, despite pain and the tenseness of this situation the little five year old leapt at her elder sister in cat form, picked her up and nuzzled her dearly. What could she say, Yugito the golden tabby was too cute to resist.

“Yori-chan, t-this isn’t really the time…” damn her mental cat form, it felt too good to be picked up and nuzzled, but more importantly knowing that Yorihi was okay, for now, “Yorihi-chan, put me down, we’re not safe yet,” surprisingly the little girl immediately opened her arms and the cat-Yugito hopped down. She looked up at the little girl a moment with a quirked kitty-brow and was surprised to see the little girl standing up and getting into what looked like some form of fighting stance she wasn’t familiar with.

“Hai, Nee-chan,” the little girl had one flat hand palm out towards the Nibi, now a fading blue wisp of its former form, with her legs slightly bent and her other hand in a fist around her waist. Yugito could tell the stance was modified, or Yorihi had forgotten some of how it went, or Kemui had really started teaching her katas, but none of that mattered as when Yugito looked up to the little girl’s face she was surprised to see it glaring strong and looking fierce with her bloodline eyes active.

Yugito could only blink, was this really her ‘little sister’? “What the hell is Kemui doing to you when I’m not around?”

The girl flinched at the name, her eyes going down to the golden cat but Yugito had a feeling she still had her eyes on the Nibi, “Ke… mui?”

Hard black eyes went wide, “Oh no…” she stood up on all paws, “No, no, no…” immediately the cat turned on the larger ghostly version of the Nibi, “What the hell have you done to her?!”

The now giant blue-flame twin-tail gave a disturbing Cheshire grin, “Kitten, I’ve only just begun…”

-=-

Batsuko’s ear twitched as it felt a sudden spike in the Nibi’s chakra. The bakeneko paused in its trail behind the humans, something wasn’t right. They’d had walked at least three halls and not seen another zombie, looking back at the humans the ethereal cat could tell they were all on edge because of this. What was the Nibi waiting for and why did it just spike its chakra.

“Hey, guys?” Killer-Bee nudged his shades, walking behind Kemui, “Ya’ll just feel that? Like something just juiced up the cat?”

“Actual rhyme, hmm…” was Kemui’s flat response, she continued before the rappa started arguing, “But yes, that fucking cat just surged its chakra for some reason…”

“Whoa…” Bee adjusted his shades and looked the white woman up and down, “Sista’ just cussed? I’m thoroughly astonished…”

“You’re using proper language, I will believe it,” was the white haired woman’s immediate response before continuing on, looking around.

Bee just gave her a glaring pout but left it alone. For her to cuss was like the mountains crumbling or the seas boiling, it was possible but so rare it required the label ‘natural disaster’, and this situation definitely fell into that. The Ushi-Oni container paused and crossed his arms trying to think. The Nibi just juiced up, his brother and Kemui were at the point of not talking and wanting to just kill things, not really new for them but enough of a difference to scare him, and the freaky little cat with the stop-zombie-rising powers was…

“Uh, pussy-cat?” the shades wearing rapper decided to give the thing a look, and realized something was wrong with it too.

Batsuko was looking left, right, up, down and all around, its nose twitching and ears moving around, even its pronged tail was on end. It looked like it was trying to find something.

“Yo, kitty, you a’ight?” the Ushi-Oni container crouched down to the ghost cat’s level, moving his hand out and seconds away from petting the thing…

… Before it bolted off ahead of them.

“What the-”

“Batsuko!”

Both the Raikage and Kemui instinctively jumped out of the way of the speeding kitty-bullet as the long eared cat made off down the hall.

“ ** _Follow it!!!_** ” the Hachibi screamed in Bee’s head and quickly the man was obeying that order, passing his brother and comrade, “C’mon Y’all, Hachi says it knows the way!!”

“Lord Raikage…?” grey eyes stared at the larger man.

Beady black eyes spared the smaller woman a single look before his frown took over his face and he continued, “Let’s go.”

He didn’t have to tell the Assassin twice, in a second the two caught up with Bee as he was smashing through a wall the Bakeneko had ran through, it lead to a set of stairs the trio quickly ascended trying to catch up with the long eared cat. For what felt like hours the three ran after the cat, surprisingly not finding anymore zombies, they found bodies but none that moved and Bee made the assumption that the Nibi’s own ‘fight’ must be distracting it from controlling its army of mindless undead. That was a good enough answer for the other two as they made their way to the top of the tower where Batsuko sat in front of a set of doors.

“Course it’s the top of the tower, it’s _always_ the top of the tower!!” Bee yelled as soon as the large man made it up the last step. The other two tried very hard not to roll their eyes.

“This is the observation room,” Kemui said with a mild growl, knowing the place well enough seeing as she used it for her meetings with her subordinates, “What is it doing up here?”

The Raikage smashed one fist into the other, “Highest tower, most out of the way place with the greatest range over the tower,” he cracked his neck and rolled his shoulder getting ready for a fight, “If I were to cast a genjutsu on this place, would be the best place to do it from…”

“You honestly think this is all a genjutsu,” Kemui practically growled at the man, she wasn’t a shinobi but she wasn’t dumb enough to just walk into a genjutsu and not know it.

The larger man spared her a glance, one that said quietly for her to calm down, “No,” he said lowly, “but nothing about this has been right since it started,” the large Oni-esque man lowered his hands, “But this is a demon we’re talking about, for all we know it’s completely bent reality here similar to a genjutsu…”

“Hmm, would explain the zombies and why everything’s been looking the same,” Bee added while rubbing his chin, “Also why the tower hasn’t collapsed with how many holes we’ve put in it…”

Kemui unconsciously gave a _slight_ nod to that; she had to admit she’d been wondering about that too. The woman closed her eyes and breathed in before releasing a great sigh, “Alright,” she opened her dichotomously glowing feral eyes, “All that matters is it’s in there and we can get them back…” the white woman took a step in front of the door.

“Them?” the Raikage grunted taking a step forward, “Hmp, I’m just here to get my daughter back,” he frowned at the door, brows furrowed and looking ready to stomp something to smithereens, “If Yugito can’t control that cat then she’s going down with it…”

Kemui’s lips became a tight line disagreeing even while she gave the barest of nods, for some reason she didn’t want to have Yugito die just to save her student, but like the Raikage was more than willing to do it.

“Screw ‘dat,” Bee said with an open frown, “Girl’s going to the island remember,” he crossed his arms,  and gave the impression he was glaring at his brother, “ ** _I’m_** taking her there when this is done, so she’s living no matter what, got it!”

Kemui blinked, surprised, for as long as she’d known the brothers the white haired woman had never seen Bee stand up so vehemently to his brother. The bull-horn tattooed man was serious; he was going to save his student no matter what…

The Raikage just stared at his brother, long and hard before turning back to the door, seemingly accepting his answer. Both were important members of Kumo for different reasons and while the Raikage would never sacrifice one over the other he _was_ willing to make the decision if it was necessary. His last look promised Bee that, if Yugito was beyond saving, if the Nibi had complete control, it was better they just put her out of her misery.

Batsuko sat at the door, taking in all the thoughts and feelings of the humans. It too felt remorse for the child that contained the Nibi. It was not her fault, nor her decision, the dog had foolishly passed up its chance without knowing and she had been chosen instead. Now the Nibi was trying something more with the other child, the white-eyed girl that could see it for itself. It wanted to help her, and the possessed child, it had to…

-=-

There was a great growl as Yugito charged at the monstrous twin tail. Sadly the little golden tabby was flicked away with one swat of one of the Nibi’s tails. Yugito skidded on the black ground landing at Yorihi’s feet, the pale eyed little girl staring not sure what to do.

“Is that all you’ve got kitten?” the monstrous cat giggled with its Cheshire grin, “Even that old dog could do better…”

Yugito hissed as she struggled to her four paws, “What is it with you and calling people dogs?” somehow the golden cat spit and she was almost sure there was a tooth loose or missing. Black eyes glared at the wispy blue-black cat, her own tail puffed on end and standing straight up, “You and Batsuko always called Kemui-san that?”

Behind the arguing cat, Yorihi grabbed her head, that name made it hurt, “Ke…”

The Nibi’s eyes went straight to the little girl, swatting a paw and the darkness seemed to grab her.

“Yorihi!!” Yugito screamed, jumping away from the moving darkness and watching helplessly as it brought the small girl into the air.

“Let’s not name names kitten,” it took a moment but it seemed the Nibi had shifted the darkness around them so that Yorihi was being held in one of its tails, “It’s really not good for the girl, mentioning that dog seems to hurt her,” it gave that Cheshire grin again, showing large fangs and its malicious intent.

Yugito growled but held herself back from attacking head on again, she needed to think, needed to figure out what she could possibly do in this situation. She needed information, “Why do you call Ke… _her_ that?” at the near mention of Kemui’s name the Nibi seemed to have squeezed Yorihi, though the little girl only seemed to give a small whimper, trying hard to not scream or cry. Yugito bit the inside of her mouth, this wasn’t looking any better, but she had noticed something the Nibi seemed to fixate on, something she didn’t know why, “Why does _she_ matter to you, I thought you were a Nekomata, didn’t care about people…”

“I am **_THE_** Nibi no Nekomata!!” The large monster cat bellowed, “I’m more than just a normal twin-tails, far more than you realize,” the thing growled deep in its wispy chest, the sound echoing in the darkness, “And I do _not_ fixate on that dog… I just wish to drive her insane and kill her like the rest of her kin,” The Nibi said that last part awkwardly nonchalant.

Yugito had to blink at that, “That’s oddly specific,” the little golden cat sat down as the large monstrous one holding her ‘little sister’ hostage seemed to huff.

“Stupid kitten,” the Nibi seemed to grumble to itself, “You have no idea what you’re asking about, ancient history about a clan that **_SHOULD_** be long **_DEAD!!_** ”

Yugito blinked again, “I’m going to assume you have some _real_ issue here…”

“Issue?” the monster cat seemed to slam its massive paws on the ground, raising to its feet and taking Yorihi with it, “You have no _idea_ the injustices I have suffered because of those wolves and their brood…” large monstrous eyes narrowed on the tiny, tiny golden speck, “Not to mention your kin as well…”

“My kin?” the tiny golden cat barely had the chance to question as the ancient cat seemed to cue on a rant-rampage.

“Those damnable wolves!” the massive cat seemed to start pacing, “First they hunt us to near extinction then get in with those bloody humans and breed a line of mongrels to contain me, **_ME!_** The strongest of the Nekomata!! All because that little wolf-girl wouldn’t finish me off and that tree hugger said there was potential in my power and blah, blah, blah…”

“Uhh…” Yugito raised a paw, finding this entire situation rather surreal since the Nibi _never_ talked, or complained, to her this much and as far as she knew there was some seriously crazy shit going down outside, not to mention why in the nine hells Yorihi was here and seeming to have lost some of her memory, and…

“… But then there’s _you_!!” Suddenly the massive kitty was on Yugito and her little golden form had no idea what to do.

“Me?” black looked widely up at glaring balls of blue fire.

“Yes, _you_ ,” the Nibi’s eyes seemed to narrow a moment as it stared at the tiny golden cat, “I’d spent centuries trapped in body after body after body of those dogs,” it snorted, sitting down disturbingly close to Yugito, “I had a routine you see, drive every one of them mad to the point they kill themselves, the wolf blood in them wouldn’t allow them to demean themselves to such a point as actually _speaking_ to me, and quite frankly I enjoyed watching them go insane and living barely past thirty…”

The tiny cat blinked, she knew none of this, the previous Nibi containers how their lives must have been… but what did that mean for her? She barely heard the cat and that’s only because it generally ignored her, no taunts, threats, or any kind of _real_ malice, in fact she had thought she’d started getting along with the damnable thing. So what did it mean? “And me?” she asked with fire in her black eyes, “What about me, why am I so different to you?”

“You…” the monster cat seemed to give a growl but a placated one, “I _was_ meant for that dog out there,” it nudged its head over its mountainous shoulder, “But something went wrong,” it gave that Cheshire grin again, wide and wicked, “The little whelp wasn’t around when the previous container finally couldn’t handle it anymore and the pride of the wolves caused them to take their own life before succumbing to me…” the grin grew wider as it loomed over the tiny golden cat, “And you, you were nothing more than a thought, a backup, something to pass the time until _that one_ came to claim me…” an eerie chuckle started to build in the Nibi’s throat, “I spent a year inside you, biding my time pretending to be tamed by an infant hoped to be of the blood, only I knew you weren’t, you may share parents with that dog but you’re certainly no dog yourself…” the Nibi nudged its head down at the tiny cat, “After all Kitten, no wolf would take the form of its enemy so willingly.”

Yugito shuttered, the Nibi’s voice felt like a parasite burrowing into her brain. The things it said… they couldn’t possibly be true, if they were… she wouldn’t have been alone, she’d remember her family, wouldn’t have been lost and found by the Kumo-nin on that island after she’d… she’d… “What the hell have done to me?”

“Nothing I don’t plan to do to this little one,” the monster cat waved its tail holding the struggling Yorihi, “She’s rather feisty, even more then you were,” that evil grin of its glared down at Yugito and the tiny cat could only stare up in horror as she started to realize what the Nibi was doing, “You see, I’ve already started to become too… how shall we say this, _attached_ to you Kitten,” it’s free tail came down and patted Yugito on the head like some small child, only the chakra appendage burned and she had to resist making a sound and let the damnable creature enjoy it, “and quite frankly, while you may not _be_ a dog, the blood still lies dormant in you, and that could run the risk of there being more whelps in this world,” the large tail suddenly grabbed Yugito, all but strangling her as it brought her eye-to-eye with the monster feline, “And like I said, I want to watch them all go insane and die,” it squeezed just a little bit tighter before nodding its head towards Yorihi, “Now this little one, on the other hand has no wolf blood, has no affiliations to the land of lightning to begin with and if I’m not mistaken the eyes of her kin were given by god closer to my liking, making her an ideal candidate…” it turned back to Yugito, grinning a wide wicked Cheshire grin, “For my new body…”

Yugito growled, not having wanted to hear what she was thinking. She hissed and struggled and clawed but the tail around her tiny form wouldn’t budge.

“Oh, now, now Kitten, no need to feel left out,” the demon chuckled, “I’m sure we can come to an agreement, after all I still have time, needing to finish removing everything about her that makes her less… _malleable_ …” the giant cat shuttered, “All those pesky emotions and thoughts and feelings and things you humans love so much… Individuality, HA!” the giant cat brought its tail holding Yorihi next to the one holding Yugito, “Any last words before she forgets you even exist?”

Yugito clinched her fangs, damn beast, damn power, damn tails, damn it all, “When I get free from here you’re going to wish you stayed in your cage…”

The joviality in the monster cat’s eyes vanished as it narrowed its eyes and glared at the tiny feline, “You honestly think you can fight me? The Nibi no Nekomata? Strongest of the cat demons?” it brought her closer to its face to get a better look at the small creature, “You are but a speck to me, in chakra and willpower, I would know, I’ve made everything you are.”

“True,” the tiny cat grinned while pushing against the tail with all her might, “But there was something important that you taught me a long time ago…”

Large fiery blue orbs narrowed further, “And what was that, Kitten?”

The black eyed golden cat grinned, “Distraction is a bitch…”

The Nibi had only a moment to stare at the tiny cat…

… Then a burst of Chakra similar to its own latched onto it and started ripping it apart…

-=-

The doors to the observation room flew open and before the humans could say a word Batsuko was across the room and roaring. A bright blue cloak of chakra encompassed the smaller feline and went charging at Yugito’s possessed body. In an instant the cloak encompassed the girl and her captive and the shadow of the Nibi on the wall started howling.

With a flick of its shadowy tail Batsuko was thrown back into the wall by the door, snapping everyone out of their surprise.

“ ** _HOW DARE YOU!!”_** a voice boomed across the room as the shadow behind Yugito became more corporeal. The Nibi was finally showing its true form as the flaming blue and black spirit came into partial form around Yugito’s possessed body, the girl’s eyes open wide and glowing copper as the human form clutched the tiny body in its hands.

In an instant the two shinobi and assassin are in the room in fighting form, standing between the monster cat and the downed Bakeneko.

The Raikage was in the middle and had already activated his lightning aura, “I’m going to ask this once,” the large lightning covered man crouched in a more serious stance, “Give me back my daughter!”

The cat’s only response it a yowl from Yugito’s throat as it throws out a hand and one of its ghostly tails smashes through the ceiling and goes after the large man.

In a feat the Raikage won’t forget as both stupid and brave, Kemui rams the larger man out of the way, pumping chakra throughout her body to enforce it while sending a good portion into her blade and manages to block the tail.

“Kemui!” the large man yells easily catching himself before watching as the woman holds the tail of a bijuu with nothing but a knife.

Then Kemui’s left eye completely glows and she lets out a mighty roar and becomes engulfed in flaming white chakra before moving her wrist and severing the ghostly tail.

The Nibi screams, not Yugito’s possessed body but the actual Nibi itself as its body becomes almost solid chakra. It glares at the white woman that cut one of its tails, “ ** _You’re dead wolf!_** ”

“B-bring it, cat,” the woman growls, eyebrows dangerously furrowed as she raises her knife again.

“Fuck dat!” and before anyone notices a red and black blur cuts across the Nibi’s eyes. When they notice it stop and the demon cat screams, clawing at its wounded eyes, the others notice its Bee in his partial Eight-tails form, “Hehe, ain’t the only Jinchuuriki around here…”

“Bee you idiot!!” The Raikage yells before Bee is smashed by the Nibi’s other tail, “Shit,” the man growls, charging up his aura and striking out at the Nibi before it can counter. The Raikage gets a good hit at its head before being swatted back by a clawed ghostly paw.

As the large lightning covered man is thrown back a white rocket takes his place as Kemui lunges forward into the Nibi’s unguarded side, intent on digging Yorihi and Yugito out if she has to. She concentrates this new-found chakra into the point of her knife and jabs the creature.

It screams and again before hissing loudly swiping at the human formed wolf invading its chakra bubble.

Kemui makes it within a foot of the girls despite the forcing chakra; she reaches one hand out to the possessed Yugito. – _So close…_ \- before the girl turns copper eyes on her and forces her out of the bubble and sent crashing into the wall by the doors. The wolf woman growls as she pulls herself out of the rubble, panting heavily from the strange chakra and growling as she smashes her hand through the floor, “So close…”

The other two are at the Nibi again, tearing up the room and the ceiling and what little walls there were. The observation room was not the place to be holding a huge Bijuu level battle, it simply a room with windows 270 degrees with the stairs behind the wall behind her. The roof didn’t even go anywhere it was the top of the tower and couldn’t be more than 50 feet across, and half of that was now covered in glass and rubble. – _If one of us falls from here…_ \- the woman could only shake her head trying to rid herself of the thought, now wasn’t the time, they had one goal and that was getting the girls and subduing the psycho cat.

There was a hiss from next to her and it seemed Batsuko had gotten back up. The strange long eared cat gave her a serious look and something about it looked different. Kemui wasn’t sure but it looked like the cat was asking her a question, something important, “What do you want...?”

The cat stared at her, its eyes remaining on hers until the flicked down to the knife in her hand then back to her eyes.

It wanted her weapon…

More than that she got the feeling it wanted something else. She clinched the knife in her hand, it was something she had never let leave her side, especially in battle, as it was the only weapon she felt safe with, the only true gift she’d ever received, “You want this?”

The ghost cat stared for a moment then nodded slowly.

Kemui’s hand holding the blade flinched, what could it do that they hadn’t and why did it want her weapon specifically? The thought of the thing trying to carry one of Bee’s swords ran through her mind and she realized her knife was probably the only thing it could carry…

Then there was the fact it could hold chakra…

“You want my chakra, don’t you?”

The cat’s pronged tail raised and waved slightly but otherwise the cat just stared, it was as close to an honest ‘yes’ as she figured she was going to get from the thing.

Her hand clinched tightly around the weapon and her teeth clinched sharply. What was she to do?

“Bro!!” there was a cry as the Raikage went flying towards one of the glass windows, nothing in his path to stop him from going over the edge.

Kemui’s heart stopped and her eyes went wide.

Bee was entangled in the Nibi’s tail and couldn’t stop him…

She on the other hand…

“Take it,” she charged the knife with as much chakra as she could before throwing it at the cat’s paws, as she sprinted towards her Lord.

Everything happened simultaneously.

Kemui flashed through signs with her hands faster than anyone could see just as the Raikage was going over the edge. She disappeared leaving only a puff of smoke, reappearing behind the Raikage, grabbing him while throwing a knife at what was left of the ceiling and managed to swing them back into the observation room. When they landed they rolled and the Raikage took the brunt of it.

Bee whooped!

Distracted by the damnable wolf saving the large man, the Nibi didn’t notice the little black and blue cat charging at it with the wolf’s knife in mouth before it plunged the thing into its side causing a chakra explosion that had the Nibi’s corporeal form howling and faltering.

The Nibi’s tails and chakra cloak started to disintegrate and Bee was unceremoniously dropped on his face.

The Raikage managed to push himself up, ignoring the heavily panting Assassin on his chest, “What the hell?” he was thoroughly confused, one second he was falling and trying to figure out how to not-die and the next Kemui had popped up out of nowhere and saved him. He looked down at the smaller woman, next to Bee she was his most loyal subordinate, that wasn’t the first time she saved him and he doubted it would be the last, but now wasn’t the time, something just happened to the Nibi that caused its body to falter and start to disappear.

The Raikage stood up, taking a good look at the damage. He could see Yugito inside the Nibi’s body; she had one hand on her head like it hurt, while the other still held Yorihi. The real Yugito must have been fighting back, but that wouldn’t be enough, turning to the side he noticed the Bakeneko… only it seemed a lot different.

The once tiny cat was now twice its size and its tail seemed to have split longer and where its coat before was purple-black now was blue-black, and its eyes were a bright blue as well. Then there was the large chakra aura surrounding it that seemed to be connected to the Nibi’s and if he didn’t know any better was feeding on it.

“Da Fuck?!” was Bee’s smart words as he too managed to get up and see this for himself.

“It’s… it’s purifying the Nibi,” both brothers turned down and saw Kemui pushing herself up to her feet, looking whiter than normal and still breathing heavily, “It took that white chakra from me and used it against the Nibi…” she looked at it with her back to being only a glowing rimmed left eye and normal right and saw the chakra connection, “I think it’s using all the energy it gathered from the dead as well to fight it in its territory…”

“Sista’,” Bee said gently, reaching out to help support the woman who looked about to keel over, “How you know all that?”

She gave him a strange look before letting go, she could stand even if dying on her own, “I don’t know…”

“Kemui…” the Raikage started, not about to ask her again but honestly concerned for her state, for as long as he’d seen her he’d never seen her this drained. Normally the woman could catch her breath in about five seconds and get back to kicking ass and killing people but this time seemed different, then there was that white chakra to think about.

“I said I don’t know!” she snapped, panting heavily again as one hand went to her head, “Something… in my head…” she slipped back to the ground, unable to stand any longer from the combination of chakra depletion and the pain in her head.

The brothers frowned down at the Assassin, honestly worried about her but smart enough to not bother asking. They turned towards the Nibi’s body.

“So what now, bro?” Bee asked getting in a fighting stance.

“Now we finish it while it’s distracted and get them back,” the Raikage said cracking his knuckles.

“Both ov’em?” Bee smirked showing his fangs.

“Hmp,” the Raikage grunted as they charged.

The brothers, using their own versions of a lightning aura and Eight-tails cloak cut a swath through what was left of the Nibi’s own cloak as Batsuko seemed to absorb or dissipate the rest.

Kemui watched this, tried as hard as she could to just stand up and fight the damn thing again and not just sit her like the weak little child she’d been before when she watched the larger version of the cat burn her village to the ground. Her hand supporting her clawed at the floor while the other tried to repress the pounding in her head. What the hell was going on? That white chakra she’d never had before, this knowledge, this ‘knowing’ about the two cat demons? The foreboding sense she had that something horrible was about to happen.

“ ** _Damnit all!!_** ” the cat growl, reduced to only having a hold over its container’s body as it forced Yugito’s arm back and glared its opposition. It bared its fangs at them, “ ** _Damn you all to hell_** ,” it held up Yorihi’s body with one arm wrapped around the little girl’s neck to stop any more attacks, “ ** _If I can’t have her_** …” it sneered as it caught sight of the dog on the ground, grinning its evil grin as it backed towards the edge, and spoke solely to its nemesis, “ ** _Then no one can…_** ”

And it jumped, through what was left of the glass and over the edge the Nibi jumped out as far as its control over Yugito’s body would allow.

Bee and the Raikage stared, too shocked by the creature’s action to move.

Batsuko lost its connection and stood still, as stunned as the ninja.

Kemui didn’t, her eyes were wide and everything seemed to just shut off…

… then…

“ _YOORRIIHII!!_ ” The assassin screamed with such emotion and anguish the brother’s swore they would never repeat what they heard for it could not have been real. The white woman pushed to her feet with a surge of inhuman energy and ran forward and jumped after the monster-possessed girl and her precious student.

“Da Fuck!?” was Bee’s immediate response as his brain was trying to register what just happened.

The Raikage rushed to the edge instead, looking over into the downpour that had been going on outside before turning back to his brother, “BEE!!”

The Jinchuuriki popped a salute and activated his Eight-tails aura, “On it Bro!” and jumped over the ledge himself.

-=-

“It’s over Nibi!!” Yugito the golden tabby wrestled the blue-flaming cat of the same size to the ground. Throughout their struggle something had been going on outside that had been distracting the Nibi, then suddenly it started to shrink in size considerably and before Yugito knew it she was wrestling the thing in even combat. It had finally let go of Yorihi and the girl seemed to just fade away and Yugito hoped her soul or spirit or mind or whatever had been dragged here went back to her body and everything was okay.

Yugito swiped the Nibi across the face and it head-butted her and the tussle of cats continued until the golden cat had finally pinned the blue-flame kitty, “End this Nibi!”

There was a disturbing growl from the demon cat, one that slowly turned into an eerie laugh, “It’s already over you stupid human!!”

“What?” Yugito let it go as it just lay on the ground unmoving, “What the hell do you mean?”

“See for yourself,” it nudged towards a door that appeared in the darkness, “it’s all over…” the Nibi said languidly, not bothering to get up or defend itself anymore.

Yugito stared at for a minute, the Nibi… why was it suddenly acting so… apathetic? She turned towards the door, wary it may be a trap but at the same time unable to resist the chance to get her body back. She could sense her body on the other side; feel her physical chakra tugging at her spirit. She gave the Nibi one last look, it hadn’t moved, before stepping through the door…

The first thing she registered was the free fall; the whipping of wind coursing around her and whistling in her ears. The next was the feel of her muscles and a weight in her arms. She managed to open her eyes and saw a head of midnight blue hair on her chest. – _Yorihi…_ \- looking further and she could see they were high in the air and the cold ground was miles below, and they were falling too fast grab on to anything to save them. Looking towards the sky something white caught her attention.

- _Kemui?_ \- the white haired woman was glaring down at them, arms tight against her body to let her fall faster as she slowly encroached on them. It was the look on the white woman’s face that threw Yugito off, there was too much emotion, too much pain and anguish, too much fear, it couldn’t possibly be Kemui.

- _But it’s her…_ \- Yugito smiled as tears entered her eyes, she didn’t have the control of her chakra yet and it would be impossible for her to save either herself or the young girl in her arms, but if Kemui was coming after them it meant she had a plan, right? She could save at least one of them…

Opening her arms she watched as the unconscious girl began to float above her, black eyes stared at the surprised grey ones and she smiled, “Save her!!” was the last thing Yugito said before she went back into her mind. She was going to die anyway; the least she could do was not die alone.

Back in her cat form she found the door and walked into the Nibi’s darkness and quickly found the flaming-blue cat lying where she had left it. The golden cat padded over to the languid thing and sat down next to it.

“Tell me everything,” she said.

“Why should I?” it responded.

Yugito merely stared into the blackness, “We’re going to die anyway,” she turned towards the Nibi, “Even if you are reincarnated you won’t be ‘you’, and I want to know what ‘you’ know…”

“You won’t like it,” blue-flame-like tails swished behind the lying kitty.

“Hm,” Yugito gave a half-hearted laugh in her throat, “Then tell me any way…”

“… Alright,” in an instant the swaying tails of the Nibi gently grabbed hold of the golden tail of Yugito’s mental cat form.

And in an instant she knew everything the Nibi did.

She knew about the war between the canine and feline demons, how she was one of a handful of cat demons alive. How she had been captured by a woman with white hair and chakra who smelled of wolves and handed over to a man she thought insane and used to help stop the greatest Bijuu of all existence, fundamentally altering her into the ‘Nibi no Nekomata’. She watched as she broke free and terrorized the land of lightning for the crimes against her fallen kin, using her own anger and hatred to raise the dead of fallen enemies to fight again… only for the wolves to return, aiding the swallow people she had been attacking and becoming confined again. Over and over she was sealed, always into the body of a descendant of wolf-blood, dogs she had started to call them, since that was how the swallow people had treated them, their only purpose to hold the Nibi and die fighting against it. At first she pitied them, then she hated them, then she too grew angry and insane from the monotony and the loneliness. Rage consumed her and she turned it on her jailors and they, lacking in normal training, could not hold her back properly, and the tradition of suicides began.

The Nibi only wanted to be free, free of this endless cycle of loneliness and burdens, then there was the memory of a baby with blonde hair being picked as the next container, this one not having the wolf’s blood, this one not ignoring but drawing her in, this one being different. But it was not to last as the swallow elders sought to remove the Nibi from the blonde baby and put it in its rightful container, the Nibi cursed the child and took control. The infant unable to resist its pull and it released its full form and destroyed the village. The most prominent memory of the destruction the Nibi had was the sight of a white haired child with a black bandanna over its right eye staring up at the monster cat… before it swatted it aside.

The memories continued, all the way through being ‘re-sealed’ and taken to an island for keeping, to gaining power and terrorizing it again before the ANBU of Kumo found the container. Then things became strange for the Nibi, and Yugito knew her own memories but to see it from the Nibi’s view point was strange. All the way up until they had first met Yorihi, the little girl that somehow changed the scariest people in Kumo and how the Nibi started its plan by creating the Bakeneko Batsuko, the _Child of Punishment_ , its weapon for gathering information outside Yugito’s notice. Only Yorihi had changed it too by catching its curiosity and giving it a desire beyond its master’s. The child was trouble and the Nibi had decided to use it to harm the last of the dogs, to ensure it would **_never_** be bound to it, never be taken from the one that was different.

Yugito gasped as the memories faded and the Nibi’s reasons became clear. The golden kitty looked at the languid one, “Why?”

It gave a half-hearted growl.

The girl in cat form swallowed hard, trying to stem the tears of knowing something far too late, “Why me?”

The twin tails held hers as the flaming spirit cat continued to look away, “You are different… you didn’t turn me away…”

Yugito didn’t know if cat’s could cry, it must have been because she was human because before she knew it the tears were flowing from her eyes as she set one paw on the Nibi’s head. It was time for the end; at least it would have what it wanted.

They would always be together.

\-----

Batsu- Punishment, Penalty,  Ko- child, sin, fault

Batsuko- Punishment of Sin, Penalty of Fault, Child of Punishment


	8. Living Excellence

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The Conclusion of the Nibi Incident...

There was the rush of air, the feel of water and the smell of wet stone.

These things were so distinct in her senses even if they were as far away from her mind as the ground quickly racing up to catch her. Kemui wasn’t one for large shinobi battles that involved the remaking of maps or simple things like making chasms or reworking a river or even making giant walls of earth or fire. She was even less of a person to do something stupid like risk her life for someone that didn’t matter, she was designed, bred, and put on this earth to take life, not preserve it.

Yet…

Yet when she sees the people that matter to her, like her Lord tumbling into danger her instincts take over and everything else shuts down and she does what she must to save them. Not caring about her own physical state or even her own life, she’ll do whatever it takes to make sure they are safe. She leapt out a several mile high window using her clan’s special technique, _Po_ , Step or really her own version often mockingly referred to as _Yoen-Po_ , Lingering Smoke Step, something that if done wrong could kill her just to catch her Lord and fling them both to safety on what may have been a loose wire or faulty roof or knife or something and the both of them could have died easily.

So what the hell was she doing now?

Falling, that’s what, because she, with no chakra left what-so-ever, jumped out of that same X story building and was plummeting, with the help of her hands held tightly against her body, _faster_ towards the ground.

Why?

Because the Nibi threatens to kill her student, and instead of doing it the 1 of 63 different ways she could name off the top of her head from the position the thing was in and how it held the little girl, no, it decides to jump off the top of the Raikage’s tower…

And she followed it?

Kemui clinched her teeth; saving her Lord’s daughter was the same as saving him. It was her responsibility as an Assassin to ensure her Lord’s life and line. His life was the reason she had killed off her entire clan, his life was her reason for breathing each day, it was his life she held in her hand every time he turned his back to her.

So why?

Yorihi wasn’t his real daughter; she was a kidnapped Hyuuga they had been brainwashing to work for them, to create another ultimate shinobi when she grew up for Kumo. That’s all she was, all she would ever be! So why did her being in danger stir more in Kemui’s shattered consciousness then the life of her Lord?

She should be at his side. They should have sent Bee or someone more capable, _able_ to do something in this situation. They shouldn’t have let the Nibi jump in the first place. She shouldn’t have let Yorihi be taken in the first place!

- _That doesn’t matter!_ \- the woman yells inside her mind. It didn’t matter, none of it, what happened, what will happen, all that mattered in this instance was that she get the little girl. She wills herself to fall faster, wanting the strength to do it, actually considering attempting _Yoen-Po_ again if she has to.

Then she’s within feet of the girls and notices something strange about Yugito.

The blonde is smiling.

Not sadistic or evil or malice filled or any of those other versions of cruelty the Nibi sneered at her. No, she was just smiling. Something sweet… and something sad.

Then Kemui caught something on the wind and could have sworn she saw the girl’s mouth move, “ _Save her…_ ” and before she knew what was happening Yugito’s arms were open and Yorihi was floating up towards her.

Grey eyes widened only a moment, but instead of staying on the blonde they immediately went to the dark haired child. She was a foot, a half, an inch…

“Got you!” she shouted as she reached one hand out and grabbed the little’s arm, pulling her in and wrapping her larger form around the small child. Kemui held her gently, motherly even, as for a moment everything was right.

Why did this matter? Why did holding this child and knowing for the moment she was alive and well cause such a swell in her chest, such a weight and pain and something like joy she couldn’t quite describe?

She wished Reki was alive so she could ask her what it all meant.

Kemui held the girl close, comforted for the moment in the fact that she was breathing.

The next she was trying to find a way to figure out how they were going to survive.

- _High altitude, increasing speed, bottomless seeming chasm_ \- she stared at the mountain walls. – _We’re going too fast for a knife to catch… maybe…_ \- the white haired woman shifted the girl in her arms so she could use both hands. – _Please have enough left to work…_ \- quickly she ran through seals she’d used earlier and with the final one disappeared…

Kemui felt the shift of the world thanks to _Po_ , sensing as time halted and gravity increased, but just as she thought she was still falling, thankfully slower. – _Work_ \- she shouted in her mind as she threw a knife with wire on it, knowing that as soon as _Po_ ended it would rocket towards its target at two, maybe even three times its speed. She wrapped the wire several times trying to bundle it in her right hand, around the steel plate as much as possible and honestly expecting to lose her hand when this over.

- _That’s fine…_ \- one look at the little girl in her arms and she knew it was worth the sacrifice.

She made a one handed seal and prepared for the jerk…

As soon as Kemui and Yorihi reentered the world in a puff of smoke the older woman was jerked forward towards the mountain, her knife having gone at several times its normal speed and locked into the mountainside, dragging her with it. Kemui knew her equipment, she knew that the high grade wire she used wouldn’t snap despite the displacement or the strain put on it, in fact her arm would rip out of its socket before that happened…

Which is exactly what happened...

The instant the knife buried itself in the mountain side it jerked Kemui towards it, but as soon as the wire ran out and the speed at which Kemui and Yorihi had been falling had been immense, the opposing forces met, not in the wire, but in the ligaments of Kemui’s shoulder. The Assassin tasted blood as she bite down on her tongue, feeling as her arm was ripped out of its socket and at least half the muscles holding her shoulder together ripped or popped out of place, it was like the sound of several exploding tags going off at once and it took every ounce of her not to scream… even when her right side slammed into the cold hard stone of the mountainside.

But it worked…

They had stopped moving and Yorihi was still alive and safe, even if ‘safe’ was subjective at this point as she couldn’t feel her hand and there was something dripping down her arm.

Kemui didn’t look up, just willing whatever she had left to hold on with her mangled arm as the other held the little girl close.

“It’s going to be okay,” she whispered to the unconscious girl in her arm rocking her instinctively, “Everything’s going to be okay…”

And just when she thought her arm was going to finally snap off something large and red grabbed them and the Assassin finally knew darkness…

-=-

Kemui woke with a gasp, grey eyes wide and looking all over the white room as the only thing she heard was panting breathes and pounding blood. Some part of the Assassin’s mind registered it was a medical facility; another part said it wasn’t the ‘normal’ hospital, immediately she tried pushing her body upward, needing to get out before…

The white haired woman gave a growl as her body sluggishly responded and worse her right arm was bound and immobile. She wouldn’t be able to effectively fight like this if need be; she’d have to find some suitable weapon to compensate.

The door handle jiggled and immediately the Assassin looked around for anything suitable as a weapon. No pens, no wooden objects in reach, no ‘conventional’ weapons. Sharp grey eyes landed on the IV needle in her left hand, without thinking she brought the appendage to her lips and ripped the thing out with her teeth before grabbing the needles and biting off the tubes. Now she at least had a projectile if need be…

The door opened and the Assassin kept her eyes sharp, arm cocked with her improvised weapons and ready to kill whoever it was…

Unfortunately it was her Lord that walked in…

The Raikage had come to check on the progress of his Assassin’s recovery. She had completely destroyed her right shoulder from the stunt she pulled, sure the medical-nins could heal it but it would take some time before the joint was completely workable again, that meant therapy and return hospital trips. It meant time his Assassin wouldn’t be on call. He wasn’t even going to get started on what she did to her hand and all the other minor scraps thanks to slamming into a mountain side. To say the Raikage was _slightly_ irked at his Assassin was a bit of an understatement…

When he walked into her hospital room and realized she was seconds away from killing him _while_ still injured he realized he had nothing to worry about, “It’s good to see you awake…”

Kemui glared narrow steel slits for a moment, needles still drawn and ready to attack at a moment’s notice if this turned out to be an imposter, “Lord Raikage…”

The large man gave her a look when the needles didn’t lower and she eyed him like he was a spy, “Kemui…” he put his hands on his hips, knowing the woman would continue to glare at him until he explain where she was and why she was here, “You’re at the Kumo general hospital, thanks to the injuries you received during your foolish rescue…”

The woman visibly stiffened at the Raikage’s tone. She could tell he didn’t disapprove of _what_ she did, just _how_ and probably shocked she’d done it all. The Assassin lowered her needles, looking down, feeling as surprised as he was by her actions, even more so for the blatant disregard for her physical being. She looked at the shoulder cast and her bound right arm, never before had she been so reckless. The white haired woman lowered her eyes somewhat ashamed of herself, her loss of control, but there was one part she needed to know, “Is she safe?”

The Raikage frowned, but his eyes held a sincerity not normally there, it was a sign he really was grateful for her sacrifice, “Yorihi’s fine,” he looked down, “The docs say she has some chakra related injuries… from whatever the Nibi was doing to her, so they’ve kept her out while she heals,” the large man smirked as a thought crossed his mind, “They’ve pretty much done that with everyone involved…”

Grey eyes crossed to him, “How long have I been out?”

“Two days,” the large man coughed into his hand, “More because the docs weren’t sure the pain had subsided or if…”

“I’d lose my arm?” the white haired woman looked at him sternly. She knew the extent of her injuries, knew the possible outcomes when she let her knife fly. In the cast she couldn’t move her shoulder or her hand, could barely feel either but could see them and at the moment that was good enough for her. She gave the barest of sighs, looking away from the man, “She’s safe and alive, that’s all that matters…”

The Raikage gave a patient nod, “They say you can leave as soon as you’re able to walk,” a smirk rose under his small mustache, “I doubt they could hold you against your will, even one handed.”

The barest of smirks pricked at the edge of her lips before another thought crossed her mind and it faded into obscurity, “Is…” she looked down, voice low and hard to hear as the Assassin was conflicted about even asking, “Reki… did she…?”

“Recovering,” the large Oni-esque man said quickly. The woman’s grey eyes were on him in a fraction of a second, wider than normal and asking something he knew she didn’t know how to voice, “Medical found her, blood all over the place but for whatever reason she was still breathing, shallow as the dead but the woman was barely alive,” his smirk returned watching as the woman’s face seemed to even out into her normal neutrality, if slightly brighter. He shrugged, “She’s in intensive care now but doing alright, worst is over and like you will be making a full recovery.”

Kemui released a sigh she didn’t know she was holding back, “Good,” it was all she could say. The Assassin leaned back, letting the stress finally slip out of her tight shoulders as she lay on the bed. Grey eyes stared at the ceiling a moment as she felt the large man take the seat next to her bed.

Silence filled the space between them.

“Yugito made it too,” the large man slipped out in a whisper. He sat on the woman’s right side so he mostly saw the cast and her white hair, but he could hear it when her left hand clinched in a fist, the crunching of the needles she still held and needed to be replaced. The Raikage kept his face neutral, “Bee managed to drop in Hachibi-form quick enough to catch her, said he saw you pull some stupid stunt but was safe and let him save seconds that would have killed the girl…” the Raikage kept his head down, not sure how the Assassin would take this next information but he felt it needed to be said, “You saved her Kemui…”

The crunching stopped and the dark skinned man was sure he’d find nothing but a ball of crushed plastic and metal if he opened her hand. From the straight gaze on her face he could tell she was burning holes in the ceiling. Sometimes the woman was a lot simpler then everyone thought.

“It wasn’t her fault what happened,” the large man tried futilely to spare the ceiling.

There was no immediate response but he was sure she wanted to growl and be more open like she had been during the incident, but she was being reserved, back to her ‘normal’ self and wouldn’t dare do such a demeaning thing.

A light smirk picked at the man’s lips, he knew her too well, “Kemui…”

There was that light growl, it was low and barely audible but he caught it, “I know…”

The Raikage openly smirked as the woman’s white head turned away, “The docs said she had extreme internal chakra damage, her coils were burned out practically,” he gave a great sigh, leaning back in the chair, “Thanks to the Nibi though she’ll recover, anyone else and they’d be considered disabled, unable to mold chakra ever again…”

“Hmp,” the Assassin _nearly_ snorted, “One can still be an effective killer without chakra…”

The large man frowned, knowing this ages old debate, “But you can’t be a shinobi without it…”

Grey eyes turned on him quickly as if telling him that wasn’t the point.

The Raikage stared at her mildly glaring eyes, remembering that funny little detail she said she’d explain later, “Your eye,” he watched her body stiffed and the fingers in the cast twitched, “Gonna tell me about that?”

The white haired woman looked away and silence settle between them for a good long moment.

The blonde stared at her, patiently waiting for the woman to find her words.

She finally gave a light sigh, “I don’t know why my left was glowing, but…” she pushed herself up to look at her Lord in the eyes, “my right eye is a fake,” she said while staring at him, “Your father used to call me ‘R&D reject’ and there was a reason for that,” her brows lowered, it wasn’t exactly a part of her history she ‘hid’, it was just that no one ever asked, “Reki retrieved me from R&D back when she was the head of T&I with ANBU, before that they were testing out new types of implants, this eye is one of them,” she blinked, glancing his way, “With the right augmentation of chakra I can use it to see like a normal eye,” there was a half-hearted laugh as she looked away from his patiently staring face, “since its fake its unable to be affected by genjutsu or hypnosis, rather useful really…”

“How’d you lose your eye?” the blonde asked calmly, eyes never leaving hers and trying to find the differences between them she spoke of.

The white woman flinched, the fingers in the cast clinching tight. She looked away before asking something completely unrelated but just as important, “Where’s my knife?”

The Raikage just frowned, “is this really the time?”

Sharp steel eyes landed on him in an instant, “My knife for the information.”

Beady black eyes stared at her, “You’re not usually difficult about information with me?”

The Assassin looked away, “This is more personal…”

“Well you’d better get over it,” the large man stood up, pulling something out from his belt and laid it down on the table next to the bed.

When Kemui looked over it was her knife glinting in the morning sunlight staring right back at her.

She blinked, slowly reaching over with her able hand and grabbing the familiar feeling blade. A small smile crept onto her face as she held the blade up in a backwards grip, enjoying the familiar feel for just a moment. A small chuckle escaped her throat as she lowered the thing and laid flat on the bed, “Should have known…”

“So…?” the Raikage said, having a funny little smirk pulling at the end of his lips as he looked down at the bedridden woman with his knuckles on his hips, attempting to be imposing even if the atmosphere was anything but.

The woman looked to the side, as close to an eye roll as she was going to do at the moment before giving a light sigh, “I took it out myself.”

“That it?” he said with a pout, he’d been expecting a bit more than such a blunt answer.

There was that sigh again, “When I was 6 there was a Master that came to the village and everyone tried to impress him so he would take them on as a student,” she gave a mirthless laugh as her grey eyes hazed with the memories of something so long ago, “I just wanted them to see I could compete too, that I could serve our clan as an Assassin like everyone else,” a mild frown formed from her pale lips as she stared at the ceiling, “I don’t know why I thought it would work, but I was angry that no one would look at me, so I did what no one else would, I willingly sacrificed something precious that they deemed necessary to our job, all to gain the attention of the elders,” cloudy eyes came down and landed on the large man and he could have sworn there was a sad smirk sitting somewhere at the edge of those lips, “I took my knife in my right hand and buried it in my right eye, ripped the thing out and threw it at their feet, Heh,” another mirthless eerie laugh, “and to think it was the Master’s attention I garnered and he took me as his student until I was eleven,” with her story finished the Assassin stared at the large oni of a man, “That’s it, how I lost my right eye, just a foolish child’s decision…”

“Mm,” the Raikage nodded, he understood that kind of foolishness, the brash and brazen nature of children only for them to become the harden adults like them. He knew it all too well.

The large man nodded, turning and heading towards the door. His Assassin was alive and still deadly as ever, even more so now that she was armed again. He needn’t worry anymore.

“Lord Raikage,” the woman’s low shuttering voice halted him but he didn’t turn around. Kemui looked at the large man’s back, then down at the blade returned to her, “Thank you…”

He looked over his shoulder, noticing her staring at the blade and assuming it was for that, “I wouldn’t leave my only Assassin unarmed-”

“Not that,” he could see her pale hand tighten around the handle of the short blade, “Thank you… for not following me…” at the end of her words the woman raised her shimmering grey eyes to the man’s beady black ones.

He looked away, refusing to watch the woman if tears threatened to fall, she was his Assassin, she felt nothing, expressed nothing, was nothing, he would give her that respect. But that didn’t stop him from answering her words, “I wasn’t going to get yelled at by you for falling off the tower twice on the same day.” He could feel her gaze on him and turned towards the door again.

Kemui smiled, looking down at her blade, she knew what he meant.

“And Kemui,” his hand was on the door, handle turned with his back still towards her, “Get better soon; I have no use for a broken Assassin.”

The white haired woman bowed her head the barest bit, understanding his words all too well, “Of course, Lord Raikage.”

And with that confirmation the man left, leaving the woman to her thoughts and the blade in her hand.

-=-

Three days later and Kemui had received word that Reki was awake and receiving visitors.

Kemui managed to receive her own clothing now that the hard cast on her shoulder had been removed but her entire upper body and right arm was still covered in herbal wrappings and healing tags and she was on enough meds and painkillers she actually didn’t trust her aim to be one hundred percent. Close quarters combat would be ‘interesting’ and probably the most effective, especially since she was still _required_ to have her non-responsive arm in a sling and her hand was still in a hard cast having had all the muscles across it lacerated and the nerves being delicate and all.

The Assassin stared down at the white sling holding her arm in place a moment before up at the door to her comrade’s room. Several moments passed filled with doubts and questions before her left hand finally reached out and slid the door open…

“Oba-chan!!!” before Kemui could even adjust to the difference of scenery a small, reddish-brown blur of hyperactivity latched itself on to her and was shouting some nonsense the white women didn’t understand, “Okaa-chan said you’d come!!!” there was bouncing involved and the older woman didn’t know what to do with what looked like an eight year old attached to her leg…

The Assassin blinked momentarily before raising her head to look towards the bed, seeing Reki wrapped in more bandages then her and sitting up in bed reading what looked like the morning paper, completely ignoring the white woman and the small child…

A sound caught in the woman’s ears and she looked down slightly from the desk clerk and spotted a boy around eleven with brown hair and staring at her with wide black eyes, hand pointing and mouth gapping.

Grey eyes turned to the black haired woman and stared questioningly, “Reki?”

“Hmm?” the desk clerk chirped from her paper, not bothering to look up, “Well since you never visit,” a hand waved nonchalantly, “Kids, your ‘aunt’ Kemui, Kemui, kids…”

“Aunt?” a white brow lowered questionably as a tugging on the Assassin’s grey skirt brought her attention downward.

“Oba-chan!!” the little girl smiled brightly up at the white woman, showing her coal black eyes just like her mother and brother, “Okaa-chan said you’d be coming, and we’d finally get to see you!!”

“T-that… T-t-that’s…!!” the stuttering brought grey eyes up to look at the boy, he sported a newly minted Kumo hitae-ate on his forehead and his short brown hair barely came over the grey band. Both children wore dark shaded clothing, like their mother, the boy’s being dark blue loose shirt and black shorts with a holster on his left leg and a long pouch on his back. Kemui wondered if he had his mother’s knack for fans or not. The girl wore what looked like a one piece faux kimono, like what small children would wear only bigger and dark-almost-black auburn with her longer red-brown hair in pigtails and she kept grinning enough that Kemui couldn’t help but notice a missing tooth. Noticing the boy’s hesitance at her presence the Assassin knew he obviously paid attention to his recent history class… or had he been there when…?

Grey eyes softened imperceptibly, or so she thought, looking at the boy, “There was a time I… ‘lived’ with your mother,” her eyes sharpened as they turned to Reki, somehow knowing the woman had seen her show of ‘weakness’, even if it was over her new glasses. The white-haired woman’s voice came out flat as she stared at the bedridden jounin, “I didn’t realize she considered me anything… nor mentioned me to either of you…”

The little girl grinned and Kemui could practically feel it on her leg, “Mmm, Okaa-chan talks about her little sister all the time!!”

A white brow rose at the black haired woman.

“B-but… y-you’re… y-you’re…” the boy’s mouth was still hanging open, pointing at her as if unsure whether to attack or run in her presence.

A hand suddenly came down on the boy’s head and rubbed his short brown hair, tilting his hitae-ate to the side, “Hush, Jun-kun, you’re screwing with my autism…”

The boy visibly deflated, “Kaa-chan…”

Reki gave her son a light smirk before turning bored coal black eyes on the Assassin, “I may have mentioned you once or twice,” the hand on her son stilled and her stare hardened slightly, telling the woman what she said was serious even if it didn’t come out right, “My adopted ‘little sister’ with her white hair and bad attitude,” she gave a wide smirk when those grey eyes narrowed so slightly only she noticed. The older woman shrugged nonchalantly before turning back to her paper, “Not my fault they take me seriously…”

Kemui was close to openly frowning at the black haired woman. She remembered her short time living with Reki, it had been pleasant enough, even if the woman acted more like a mother to her then an ‘older sister’, but it didn’t matter in the end. She had chosen that bastard over her and from what Kemui had heard paid for it dearly. The white haired woman looked down at the two children, they seemed innocent enough, and only the boy seemed to have any idea who she probably _really_ was, “Could I have a moment with your mother,” the shift in the girl’s expressive face was immediate, pouting openly while her brother stared. Then Kemui all but glared at their mother and continued in a slightly lower voice, “Alone…”

The little girl garnered a confused and worried look, while the boy recognized the look in Kemui’s eye; it was a certain look he’d seen on his mother more than once. He looked back at his mother, she was reading the paper still but he could see it, just behind her glasses her eyes had gained the same hardness. He was a genin, his mother was a jounin and he knew more about people her rank and higher than his sister or even his own partner thanks to his mother. So he knew, when that look came in her eyes whatever was happening was a lot more serious than it seemed, and right now there was something important going on between his mother and _that_ woman.

“Mei-chan,” he turned to his sister, quickly walking up to her and taking her hand, “Let’s go get something to eat…”

“B-but, Oba-chan…!” the girl whined, fisting part of Kemui’s grey skirt, not wanting to let go now that she’d finally met the woman.

“Now Mei-chan,” he tugged a little harder, trying to convey to his sister there was something more serious going on than either knew and it was best they leave.

“Go with your brother,” both children and even Reki across the room were surprised by the soft voice that left the Assassin’s mouth. The black eyed children looked up and saw something soft and so disarming in the woman’s grey eyes the little girl let go and the boy easily tugged her a bit closer. Kemui gave the barest of smiles, something she’d only shown Yorihi before, “run along, you’re mother and I just need to talk…

The girl still pouted but the boy gave a strong look, nodding quickly at the older woman before turning to his mother, “We’ll be back Kaa-chan!!” their mother waved them off and the boy practically dragged his sister out of the room before she threw a tantrum, shutting the door quickly behind them.

Kemui raised a brow.

Reki sighed openly, garnering her former charge’s attention, “I swear,” she pulled out a cigarette from some unknown pocket in her clothing folded next to the bed, quickly putting it to her mouth and lighting it before breathing out a long sigh of smoke, “Those kids… worse than you,” she gave a motherly smirk before taking another drag.

Kemui glared flatly at the woman, pleased to know she didn’t smoke in front of her kids but otherwise…

Reki’s eyes perked up towards the Assassin, sensing disapproval, “What?”

“You’re in a hospital,” the white woman said flatly, almost feeling the need to shout about how she was _still_ injured from almost dying…

“So?” black eyes stared lazily; not picking up, or blatantly ignoring, the Assassin’s meaning or irritation.

Kemui stared flatly, “Could I at least open a window?”

The black haired woman shrugged as her only response, breathing out smoke.

Kemui went towards the window and quickly flung it open with her free hand, the early morning mist and chill creeping in a bit but it helped alleviate the deadly smoke she highly disapproved of. The grey eyed woman stared a moment outside, enjoying it in some way she hadn’t before, then turned towards her bedridden comrade and taking the chair near her bed, turning it around and sitting in it backwards just staring at the woman.

Reki just stared at her paper, ignoring the Assassin while smoking her vice.

Grey eyes continued to stare and the silence dragged on. Then Kemui signed, setting her chin on her folded good arm sitting on the back of the chair, “So, they’re _his_?”

The black haired woman stared dead at the paper in front of her, “and what of it?”

Grey eyes sharpened on the woman and Reki swore she heard a light growl, “I told you to stay away from _him_ …” Kemui remembered the man Reki had been infatuated with. The white haired girl had been something over fourteen when the asshole had tossed her out of the black haired woman’s house and Reki hadn’t done a thing to stop it. Kemui had never liked the man, knew something was wrong with him, it was only through mission reports that she’d learned he’d died during a T&I interrogation.

“And I told you to mind your own business,” Black eyes turned to smirk at grey ones, but Kemui could see the sadness behind them.

Grey eyes turned away, “and you wonder why I never listened to you…”

“Heh,” Reki waved her hand looking away with that impassive smirk on her face, “Yea, yea, my fault should’a learned better,” her eyes were flat when they turned them on Kemui, the sad smirk never fading, “Even though I did… but…” the smoker finally sighed, catching the apprehensive way the Assassin sat in her backwards chair. Reki closed her eyes momentarily as she leaned back on the wall of pillows and finished off her cigarette. Coal black eyes opened to stare at the ceiling, “Third time’s the charm, huh?”

Kemui’s hand flinched as grey eyes shadowed the ground, “It was nothing personal…” the next thing she knew there was a hand mussing her white hair.

Reki smirked slightly, rubbing Kemui’s head like she’d done when she was a child, “Yea… I know kid…”

Grey eyes turned to black ones, the Assassin made no move to remove the hand on her head and the desk clerk made no sign of giving it permanent significance. Kemui’s lips thinned out as she stared at her friend, or more specifically her eyes that were staring at the wall. She had to ask, “Your eyes?”

A sharpness entered those black eyes making them sharp as obsidian in an instant, “What about them?”

Kemui couldn’t help but notice the shift in the woman’s voice and knew she was on a delicate topic, she had to phrase this correctly or she could get seriously injured. Reki may have been bedridden but there was enough ash from her cigarette to form a couple of her techniques and the woman had more chakra available then Kemui. Grey eyes narrowed inoffensively, “You’re like Yorihi, aren’t you?”

The sudden laughter caused Kemui to stir.

Reki removed her hand from the woman’s white hair, having to wipe away a tear in her eye and shorten her laughter to a mild dismissive chuckle, “Keh, I wish…” the grin she offered the Assassin was hollow, “it was before the third war… ‘Uchiha Sakumo’,” there was something disgusted in Reki’s eyes at the name, “Look him up, I’m sure you’ve got access to the files…”

Kemui stared at the hollow grin on the woman’s face, “I’d rather hear it from you…”

Black eyes became sharper and the grin disappeared, “you sure?” when the white woman kept staring, unmoving Reki closed her eyes, putting out her spent filter, “Right, why do I bother asking…” the woman grabbed another cigarette, put it to her lips and stared at nothing before lighting it, “What I’m about to tell you is nothing but speculation, based on some half-assed buried information that doesn’t exist, you hear me,” black eyes zeroed in on the white woman as the flame went out, “There _are_ no Uchiha in Kumo…”

Grey eyes glared, as if Reki had to tell Kemui about such things. Her eyes watched as the woman put the lighter down and responded in a low voice, “There aren’t any Hyuuga either…”

This brought a smirk to the side of the black woman’s lips, “Since we’re on the same page,” she took a drag and sighed out the smoke, “sometime before the third war, according to the story, there was an Uchiha defector named ‘Sakumo’,” Reki had to pause a moment to frown with disgust at the name, “it’s said he provided the Village of Kumo some… _interesting_ information about Konoha that would later help them when the war came about, because of this the man was _accepted_ into the ranks… for a time,” the woman took another drag, glancing at her captive audience, “and this is the part where he fucked up,” there was no smirk, no grin, nothing at all humorous about the statement, “According to him, since he was an ‘Uchiha’ he had… _certain_ rights, like forcefully procreating with _lower_ people to spread his _holy_ genes…”

Grey eyes blinked, “he raped someone…”

“Two women in fact,” smoke was released from her nose, “According to the story, but really there is no way of knowing just _how_ many woman he may have forced himself on,” Reki’s eyes were flat, detached, “One of the two reported women spoke out, at first she was ignored but when both she and the other woman turned up pregnant, and a test revealed _him_ as the father, well…” a sadistic smirk crossed the tan woman’s face, “You know how R &D works when they have new samples…”

Kemui’s eyes were cold, at the mention of the man and what he’d done and also the reminder of Kumo’s R&D. She was _intimately_ familiar with their procedures.

Reki took another drag, “Well the Raikage at the time saw this as an opportunity, the story goes,” she blew out a puff of smoke, “According to these _records_ he had R &D retrieve genetic samples and placed them in four other women, who had agreed, for breeding new weapons for Kumo…”

“What happened to the first two women?” Kemui asked quickly, sensing Reki moving on ahead with her story already.

Black eyes stared at the white woman flatly for a moment, “Impatient,” she snorted, “one of the original women killed the baby at birth, the other it never said, presumably both died,” she looked away, ignoring the knowing look Reki was giving her, “According to R&D’s files Sakumo was disposed of after the birth of four children, one boy and three girls,” her black brows became flat as she stared at the ceiling.

Kemui patiently waited, sensing there was something further to this story that Reki was building herself up to…

“Here’s the sad part of the story,” she said lowly, everything about her face placid, “History repeats apparently, since the boy at fifteen raped his fourteen year old teammate, thankfully she reported him immediately and R&D ‘ _handled_ ’ him the same as his father,” her eyes were flat, “they determined there was some defect in the Uchiha genes and quickly disposed of him, no breeding like his father, and his half-sisters are now under close supervision, to make sure they or any of their spawn don’t slip the same way…” there was something haunting about the way Reki’s eyes changed when she looked down, “None of them knew they were related, and the only trait that seems visible of Uchiha first born bastards is the hair and eyes,” she looked at Kemui, really looked at her and allowed the woman to get a good look at her pure black eyes, “and after that it’s just the eyes…”

At first Kemui didn’t understand, then she remembered her children, brown and reddish brown hair and both of them had pure black eyes, “Mei and Jun?”

Reki shook her head, a frown marring her lips, “I’m afraid,” she took a shuttering breathe, “I’m afraid Kemui, for my children, that they will develop these eyes and even worse…” the older woman’s teeth clinched as she looked ready to spit, “That either of them will show ‘ _signs_ ’ of that fucking bastard that…” she bit her lip to keep her mouth shut, but Kemui knew the words she didn’t let go.

It was quiet for a moment, as Reki fought to keep her hidden emotions suppressed and Kemui didn’t know what to say.

So it was strange when the black haired woman started laughing, “Fuck me…” a hand went to her face and shame laced her voice, “The bastard of a traitor having the kids of another traitor and worrying about _them_ …”

“Reki?” there was actually a concerned tone in Kemui’s voice, enough that said woman turned and just stared at her.

Her black eyes were empty and hollow, “You were right… Kemui,” her eyes turned away, remembering the teenager she’d turned away because she had loved that traitor, “I’m sorry, for what I did…” she sighed deeply, laying back on the pillows and completely forgetting her cigarette, “I killed him you know…” her voice trailed as Kemui stared at her, “As soon as I realized what he was doing, selling out our defenses to who knew, I dragged him into T&I and gave him the bloodiest _interrogation_ ever… I don’t even think they use that room because of what I did in there…” there was a mirthless laugh as she continued to look away hollow, “I was pregnant for Mei and didn’t even know it until he was dead and I’d gotten out of the hospital…”

“Why were you in the hospital?” the white haired woman asked cautiously, not sure if Reki even knew she was in the room anymore.

Black eyes turned back to her listlessly, but they saw her, “After killing him, something happened to my eyes,” reflexively one hand went to rub one over her glasses, “if felt like they were on fire and they activated only it felt different, a second level those fuckers never talk about I guess,” she gave a half-assed grin that still looked too empty, “hurt so bad it knocked me out, everyone just assumed I’d overdone it and passed out since I was suffering from exhaustion and chakra depletion…” she shook her head, “Because of whatever it is my eye sight started going bad and because of what I did I quit T&I, I couldn’t pass that cell every day and be reminded what I’d done… what he’d done…”

Kemui’s good hand fidgeted, some strange part of her wanting to reach out and grab Reki’s hand, why? She wasn’t even sure, instead her fist clinched as did her jaw as she looked at the ground. So much she didn’t know, so much missed…

So much lost…

The Assassin looked back up at the black haired Uchiha bastard, she had removed her glasses and was rubbing her eyes, trying miserably to stop the tears that had started coming, “Reki,” the white haired woman said, watching as the woman removed her arm long enough to look at her, “What about Mei and Jun?”

Reki sniffled, rubbing her eyes on her arm one last time before replacing her glasses, her thin eyes looking solemn, “I don’t know,” her hand closest to Kemui scooted closer to the edge, “I look at them, and…” in an instant something white latched on to the black haired woman’s arm, she looked down to see the thing was attached to Kemui and looked like her one good hand. A small laugh left her throat as she rolled her arm to grasp the woman’s fingers between her own; the cold grip oddly comforting in its strangeness, and the earnest look on Kemui’s sharp features reminded her of that girl she’d met years ago. Reki smiled, “I look at them and I don’t see him,” the smile widened, “I don’t see either of them, I just see my kids…” she sniffled, wiping the side of her face with her free hand, too many damn tears messing up her glasses, “two perfectly innocent kids…”

Reki decided she was imagining it, but when she looked over at Kemui there was a small, gentle smile on the white woman’s lips. It was something she had never seen before.

She smiled at the younger woman, the white haired misfit she had always looked upon as her first daughter, even if their ages said otherwise. Reki stared at Kemui, holding her hand as an unusual form of comfort, something she’d had missing from her life for a long time. There was a lot about the girl she never learned when she took her in, now looking at her as an adult she still wondered but finally had the courage to ask, “Satsuki…” the black eyed woman smirked at the sharp look the Assassin gave, “Don’t give me that look, I used to call you that all the time,” she snorted, “When I was chasing you down from rooftops and making sure you wore regular clothes…”

The white hand left the woman’s tan one as grey eyes just _mildly_ glared, “It’s a name I gave up…”

“And I’ll only say it between us,” that smirk was devious and Kemui knew she wasn’t going to win this argument without lethal force, “But aside from that…” black eyes glanced at hers, “What’s up with your eyes?”

Against her wishes a sigh left the white haired woman’s lips, “Not this again,” she surprisingly lamented under her breath, garnering a raised black brow from her companion, “I don’t know why my left was glowing, alright, even the white chakra-”

Reki cut her off with a raised hand a bored narrow look, “I wasn’t asking that,” she lowered hand when a white brow rose, “Your eye was glowing as a resonance to the Nibi, as far as I can tell the ‘wolf’ clan had a _particular_ dislike for the things and all their descendants can draw power on their blood to fight them…” at the incredulous look from the ‘wolf descendent’ Reki just waved her hand, “Old scrolls, lots of inference, don’t read too much into it, you aren’t that special,” Kemui stared at her flatly and Reki wondered if she was glaring at her inactive eyes specifically, “What I was asking was why your right showed no reaction?”

Another unwanted sigh from the Assassin, “Again,” she looked at the black haired woman flatly, just staring for a good long second, “It’s a fake…”

Reki stared even flatter, “That’s it?”

Kemui stared, wondering why everyone always seemed to expect more from this ‘reveal’…

The Uchiha bastard looked away with a deep sigh, “Trust you to keep things so blunt it’s not even worth asking…” her black eyes opened and glanced at the white woman long and hard, a tiny smirk finding its way to the edge of her lips, “and I take it you won’t even tell me, even after I told you all that?”

Grey eyes just stared blankly.

The smirk grew, “To each their own they say, heh,” black eyes went back to the ceiling, an odd peace coming over Reki’s mind, “Ya know, I’m actually glad to have someone know, I normally just kill anyone that ‘accidently’ sees my eyes,” she turned to give her former ward a smile…

… Only to find a cigarette offered in a pale hand.

That smile turned into a smirk as Reki grabbed the death stick in her mouth a waited the second for Kemui to light it. She took a drag, leaning back on her wall of pillows and stared at the ceiling, “Like old times, huh?”

Kemui put away the lighter, a _slight_ smirk on her face, enjoying the company of the closest person she ever considered as a mother.

-=-

The first thing Yugito noticed when she was waking up was the weight of something big, fat and round on her chest. Creeping open one black iron eye she was met with the sight of a moving blue-black flames. The sight was shocking enough the young woman startled and both eyes popped open. It was then she noticed the general shape long ears and a larger then she remembered off-color cat laying in a fat ball on her chest.

The large ghost cat peeked open its eyes as its partial-tails unraveled around it and stared into those familiar black eyes of its former master’s container.

Yugito stared at the large almost glowing blue eyes of what she thought was ‘Batsuko’. She blinked, mouth slipping open as if to speak the cat’s name only nothing came out.

The larger blue-black cat opened lazy eyes more and blinked at her, raising its head and waving its tail.

That’s when Yugito got a good look at the Bakeneko’s tail. Where before it had been one third split the larger feline’s tail now appeared to be two thirds split. It was a strange observation but something in her mind told her that meant something important.

The Bakeneko turned from her, raising up lazily on its feet and stretched with a long yawn before turning around and padding away from the blonde’ s face. She watched it move, feeling the more corporeal weight of the larger feline as it padded down to her hip and sat down, split tail waving lazily as the cat stared down at something.

Yugito pushed herself up slightly to get a better look at the weight on that side of the bed.

She saw a mop of midnight blue hair belonging to a little girl with a dark blue bandanna over her eyes, fallen asleep on her bedside.

Blonde brows rose in a contemplative furrow, Yugito was surprised to see her there, at her bedside, sleeping peacefully after everything that had happened. – _How…_ \- the edges of Yugito’s eyes crinkled and one hand gripped the sheets. – _Why…_ \- there was shame mixed in with the guilt that hit her full force. Ashamed at the treatment her demon put the child through and guilt at how it all ended… she had almost killed her, nearly killed herself, she _should_ have died! Why were she and the Nibi still alive?

- ** _“Foolish questions Kitten…_** ”- that familiar voice of the evil cat crept into Yugito’s mind. – ** _“That idiot Hachibi… such a waste…”_** \- there was no mocking in the voice, just a tired resignation the blonde had never heard from the twin-tails.

- _“Nibi?”_ \- Yugito couldn’t help but ask. What was the ethereal cat talking about, Hachibi? Did her senpai have something to do with them being saved?

- ** _“No questions Kitten… I’m tired…_** ”- the blonde got the impression the monster feline had curled up in a ball and was poignantly ignoring her. A pout rose on the young woman’s face but she let it slide, her and that cat had a lot to talk about, but that was another day.

She looked to the little girl and noticed the Bakeneko nuzzling her head softly as if trying to wake her up. Something about the scene sparked something in the back of Yugito’s mind, there was something… _missing_. Watching as the little girl fidgeted under the ghost-cat’s ministrations and finally woke enough to raise her head she started to understand.

“Bachi-chan!” Yorihi immediately grabbed the cat and unlike before where it would pout and look angsty about the five year old holding it, now it mewled and seemed to nudge further towards her.

- _Finicky cat_ \- flitted into Yugito’s mind at the scene but she knew now what it was that was bothering her, she couldn’t _feel_ Batsuko anymore. Ever since the ghost cat had appeared she had _felt_ the creature, as some connection to the Nibi, now there was nothing, and empty space in her mind usually reserved for the wispy cat. Staring at ‘Bachi-chan’ and Yorihi, it seemed appropriate though, the cat had changed from the experience, not just physically changed so drastically but had also seemed to grow its own consciousness and mind. A part of Yugito could only snicker, Nibi’s ‘kitten’ seemed to have grown big enough to fend for itself.

Somewhere in the blonde’s mindscape a certain giant monster cat growled.

And Yugito laughed.

The ‘blind’ girl and ghost-feline turned at the sound of Yugito laughing to herself. Yorihi blinked behind her bandana at the sound but a wide smile spread across her face a moment later, “Nee-chan!!”

The next thing Yugito knew she was being bodily assaulted by a five year old.

“Oof” the blonde fell back into the pillows as the little girl hugged and nuzzled her affectionately, it certainly was a surprise.

Bachiko, as Yugito decided to call it since it seemed to have bonded to Yorihi now, just seemed to stare in a calm fashion, waving its partial-tails about.

Yorihi’s head popped up from her big sister, “Nee-chan, I’m so glad you’re awake!” the earnest smile under the girl’s covered eyes spoke nothing but, “Otou-sama and Oji-chan were worried sick, mostly Oji-chan, he couldn’t form a proper… rh… wr…” she was tapping her lip trying to remember the right word her uncle used but couldn’t, instead just brightening up and using what she knew, “Song!”

Black eyes blinked at the little girl, “Bee-senpai couldn’t rap because he was worried about me?” the little girl nodded enthusiastically. Yugito could only blink, that was unheard of, “Huh…”

“Oh, and Nee-chan,” the girl seemed to calm just the slightest bit, “Bachi-chan says he’s glad you and… uh… Nee-bee?” the little girl wrapped her mouth around the new word and found it strange, but the bakeneko nodded behind her as if to confirm she said it right, “are safe… who’s Nee-bee?”

Again, black eyes just blinked, then a small smirk rose on Yugito’s lips as her eyes caught the cat in her periphery behind the girl, “I’ll tell you about ‘her’ some other time,” she looked back at the little girl sitting on her chest, “alright?”

The blind girl could only smile, just glad one of her important people was fine, “Mmh,” a pout seemed to form on the little girl’s face and her tiny blue-black brows furrowed over the bandana, “Ne, Nee-chan…” one tiny finger rose and tapped at her lip and it was obvious to Yugito she was worried about something, “Oji-chan says I don’t remember some things,” she ‘looked’ at her big sister earnestly but the tremble of her lips told how bothered by this information she was, “I remember being in the dark, and the big cat, and you as the little golden one, but…” her hand rose to her head as if it started to hurt even though she didn’t show any signs of pain, “I remember Otou-sama, and Oji-chan, and running around the tower and Bachi-chan playing tag… but… something seems… missing…”

Yugito held her breath, her eyes going slightly wider with each thing the little girl said. What the Nibi did to her _still_ affected her – _Fuck!_ \- was the only thing running through her mind. Her hands at her sides clinched into fists and she didn’t know if she wanted to go barging into the cat’s lair and chewing it out or hold the small girl until it was all okay.

Even Bachiko had ‘his’ ears down, hunched over and looking sorry for what happened.

Yorihi scratched her head, sensing her words had brought the entire room down. A light blush rose to her little cheeks as she waved her hands about, “N-n-no, d-d-don’t get sad Nee-chan!!” her tiny hands became fists, “It’s something I have to figure out, I… I…” her chin came down touching her chest, and she did something Yugito had never seen before, she brought her index fingers up and started tapping them together, “Otou-sama wouldn’t let me go see anyone, ‘cause he didn’t know who I remembered, but…” she swallowed hard and ‘looked’ at her big sister again, “I feel like I’m forgetting someone important… but no one will tell me who…”

Yugito’s hands clinched and her face twisted into a frown marred with guilt. This was her fault, for being unable to control the Nibi, this little girl suffered for it. Who knew what she forgot, but it was obvious the Nibi had erased a very specific person from the little girl’s mind before starting on other things. – _Damnit!!_ \- Yugito’s eyes scrunched from the feel of tears wanting to come, she refused them, she wouldn’t let them come or fall, they had to figure this out, how to fix this… If Yorihi didn’t remember Kemui and the Assassin found out, she would… would… what the hell would that woman do?! Several scenarios ran through the teen’s mind; the woman going on a rampage, killing the girl, throwing herself off the tower, all of them were horrible, but perhaps the worst one Yugito’s mind came to was the look on Kemui’s face when she heard… and didn’t do a thing. Yugito’s black eyes opened at that thought, it was the most likely and probably the worst, she hadn’t known the Assassin long, and only really thanks to the  little girl sitting on her, but she got the feeling the white haired woman was a lot more ‘human’ thanks to the little girl. – _And if she didn’t have that anymore…_ \- the blonde bit her lower lip, this was bad… so, so bad… that-

“Shiro,” the little girl whispered.

_That_ got Yugito’s attention, “What did you say…”

“Hm?” the little girl’s head popped up and by the motion of her eyebrows Yugito figured she blinked, “Shiro…” the little girl tapped her lip in thought, “I remember that was important…” she scratched her midnight blue locks and unconsciously fingered one of the braids on the side of her face, “I don’t know why…”

Yugito could only blink, then a smile started to creep along her lips as a thought passed her mind. – _Maybe she hasn’t forgotten everything…_ -

Whatever was going to happen next as completely derailed as the door to Yugito’s hospital room slammed open and Killer-Bee stepped in with a pose and wide grin, “Yugi-Chan~! Finest in the Land~! I hear yer awake, with so much at stake~! Can’t believe my eyes~!”

Both girls blinked at the large man and his… rhyme.

Yorihi tapped her chin, “Stanza…” both older shinobi’s eyes turned to the girl in shock, one that she knew the word and two, that that was the **_exact_** kind of response Kemui would give. Then she tapped her lip again and scratched the back of her head nervously, “I think…”

Bee may or may not have fallen over.

Yugito fell back on her pillow, a snicker wanting to form but she put a hand over her mouth to _try_ and stop it.

Yorihi blinked behind her bandana, she wasn’t sure what was happening since she didn’t have her eyes on but she felt a big shake, from the floor and from the bed, and she was worried they may have hurt themselves, “Oji-chan!! Nee-chan!!” the dark haired girl didn’t know why she said that, something in her mind ringing at the familiarity of the put-down and it spilled from her lips before she knew what was happening.

Then there was that boisterous laugh she’d become so familiar with and quickly the little girl was picked up by large hands as Bee hugged his sweet little niece, “Oh, little home-girl, ya sound jus’ like Sista’!” the large man hugged his niece affectionately. That was the first thing she’d said since she woke up that sounded remotely like Kemui, and despite what the Hachibi was telling him, it gave him hope that whatever the Nibi did to the girl to make her forget would go away soon.

“Sista’?” she questioned, eyebrows furrowing at the unfamiliar word, she didn’t have an aunt so far as she knew?

Yugito chuckled in her throat as she sat up, watching as her sempai praised his ‘niece’. It was a cute scene and she was glad it could happen, glad no one really died because of her…

“Now, alright Yori-chan,” Bee held the small girl in his one arm and was wagging his finger at her even if the ‘blind’ girl couldn’t see it, “Oji-chan and Yugi-chan hafta talk ‘bout some things, so you an’ pussy-cat there,” he nodded towards the large blue-black bakeneko glaring at him mildly from the foot of Yugito’s bed, “wait outside, ‘kay?”

“Mm,” the little girl tapped her lip, a pout forming on her face, “But I wanted to spend more time with Nee-chan,” if neither adult knew any better it sounded like the girl was close to whining, and that’d be bad.

Yugito smiled at the girl, despite her not seeing it but hoped it portrayed in her voice, “You can come see me tomorrow Yorihi-chan.”

That lower lip came out in an obvious pout, “Promise?”

The blonde gave a grin that would make any cat proud, “Of course…”

“’Kay!” she hopped out of her uncle’s arm, surprising the both of them as she zipped toward the door, patting around a bit before grabbing the handle. The dark haired little girl turned back only for a moment, ‘looking’ in the general vicinity of the blue-black tabby, “Bachi-chan, c’mon!”

The cat gave a little yawn before hopping off the bed and padding over to the girl, this was an excellent opportunity for both Jinchuuriki to get a good look at how much the cat had changed. Not only had its fur and eyes changed, and its tail seemed more split, but the sheer size of the cat. Where before it had come up to Yorihi’s thigh sitting up; now it was almost chest level just standing up. Bachiko sensed the two looking at it, and before it exited the room behind its new ‘master’ it shot them both a look then trotted off, knocking the door closed with its larger and longer prong tail.

“Damn,” was all Bee had to say as he adjusted his shades, “Dat cat had a serious growth spurt…”

Yugito shrugged, scooting back to lean against the wall, “Nibi says it’s because ‘he’ absorbed so much energy,” her black eyes turned to her senior when he turned back to looked at her, “both from her and all the ‘undead’ he purified…” a passive look came over Yugito’s face as she seemed to look down, her shame coming up to the edges of her face, “It seems he’s become attached to Yorihi, both the Nibi and I have no control over him anymore…”

“Hmp,” the large ushi-oni container shrugged his shoulders while crossing his arms, “Cat’s been talking to ya I see,” the blonde girl nodded, a slight frown crossing her lips. Bee frowned as well, “it got anything to say about what it did to Yorihi, or why?”

Yugito’s lips became tight as she looked down at the white bed. She remembered everything the cat had showed her, its life as the ‘Nibi’ and all it had gone through. She wanted to feel for it, she really did, but she also couldn’t stand what it had become, what it had done and had planned to do to the girl. Black eyes closed as she shook her head, “Don’t ask, please…”

The frown didn’t leave Bee’s face but he gave the barest nod, “Fer now, but don’t think this’ll just disappear,” the girl’s eyes went to him and he glared at her through his shades, his entire body giving off a disappointed impression she shrunk under, “You said you had control…”

“I thought I did!” the blonde teen yelled back, surprising herself and her sensei with her voice, “I thought I did…” she repeated with barely a quarter of the energy of the first outburst as she turned away from her teacher, “I hadn’t heard from the cat in weeks, I thought it was sleeping, or had gone away… I thought… I thought,” her voice began to trail off as the teen crossed her arms, feeling suddenly cold and empty realizing how cheap her excuses must have sounded. Yugito closed her eyes tight, feeling nothing but guilt and shame at her own assumptions and for what they’d caused, “I’m sorry…”

Bee just watched her, stern as a statue which was completely against his outward character, “You should be,” he shrugged towards the door, “That girl out there probably won’t remember everything that happened, and probably won’t remember the most important person that’s been in her life since she got here!” the blonde girl flinched at his partial raised voice as the frown under his goatee increased just the slightest bit, “And I can’t even imagine how Sista’s gonna react, I ain’t seen that woman so calm in _years_ , nor had I **_ever_** seen her react the way she did when Yorihi was kidnapped, knowing the girl doesn’t remember her will crush her, ‘stand?”

The young woman in the bed gulped hard, nodding, “Y-yes…” she remembered the image of Kemui coming down in the pouring rain trying to reach the little girl, the emotions on her face that were impossible. She remembered through Nibi’s memories how Kemui challenged the cat, getting up and demanding her student back, that glare in her eyes when Nibi threatened the girl. It was all her fault; making her senior suffer in such a way and now to make it possibly worse. She remembered years ago, the first time she had seen Kemui, before Yorihi had been there, the woman was so cold, no emotion in her eyes, no small smile on her lips, she was absolutely blank and that was frightening. The idea of _that_ Kemui being back for some reason was even worse to the young blonde, especially after what the Nibi had told her and showed her.

“No, you don’t,” Bee’s voice was low and harsh as he stared down at his student, “You never saw the woman she was before, barely anyone remembers, all they see is ‘Kemui the Assassin’, they don’t remember that at one point she was just like all’a us, and thanks to Yorihi I finally got see my ‘Sista’’ again, even if it was just in glimpses and small things,” the large dark skinned man sighed deeply, his shades turning towards the ground, “If she goes back there’ll be nothing to bring _her_ back, all we’ll have is ‘Kemui’, feel me?”

Yugito’s jaw clinched and all she could manage was a short nod.

Bee stared at her, long and hard until he felt she _really_ understood what her mistake, her lack of control of her demon has really done. With the frightened, remorseful and shamed look on her face he was convinced she did, “I’ve decided to take you to the Island.”

Black eyes blink as the young woman turned to her senior, “Sempai?”

Bee continued to look at her sternly, “Its where I learned to control Hachi, _really_ control ‘im, feel me?” when the blonde girl nodded he continued, “I’ll be taking you there and we’ll train, _hard_ , you’ll get stronger and will learned how to truly control that cat, so nothing like _this_ ,” he waved his hand, “Happens again, ‘stand?”

Yugito gulped and shook her head solemnly, “H-hai, Bee-sempai…” she looked away, not trusting herself to show the right kind of courage she was supposed to. She was afraid, sure she had gained a new rapport with the Nibi but that was because they were dying, what would she have to do to actually control the thing? What would she have to do to make sure no one got hurt because of her again?

A large hand suddenly took hers and Yugito looked up into the kind and easy-going face she was used to from her sempai, “Trust me; it gets a whole lot easier.”

And for that moment she believed him. A small smile picked at the edges of Yugito’s mouth and she nodded more confidently to her senior. She wanted to get better, to truly be strong and able to control her inner-demon. She never wanted to watch as those she cared about suffered because of her, body-possession or not she felt entirely responsible and anyone outside of them would look at it the same way.

- _Never again_ \- she vowed to herself as she squeezed Bee’s hand. Never again was she going to stand by and watch as the demon inside her destroyed her home and hurt the people she cared about. Images of the Nibi’s memories, the burning village of her birth, the white haired girl being swatted aside, the village being plagued by moving corpses she was found at, the Raikage and Bee-sempai being set upon by more undead, Kemui jumping down to save the girl her body threatened…

Yugito’s eyes snapped open, sharp and clear. Never again would she stand by as anything like that happened again.

Bee could only smile, squeezing her hand back, glad to see that fire in the girl’s eyes. She was ready for the trials of the Island.

-=-

Yorihi leaned against the opposite wall, Bachiko at her feet as she watched the scene going on inside the room with her active eyes behind her bandanna. It had taken awhile but she finally managed to get the right amount of Chakra to her eyes to turn them on, it was a small feat, one she remembered she’d been trying to do for a long time, even if she didn’t quite remember why it was so important.

Her head tilted up to the ceiling as she sighed. There was so much missing, bits and pieces here and there but certain events stood out, ones she wished she really could have forgotten.

Her mother being gone.

The men with white eyes trying to take her.

Her sister not being herself and grabbing her from…

- _Who was that?_ \- there was a pain in her mind as she tried to grasp at the tattered edges of the memory. Someone had been with her that night, something important happened that she was barely aware of, she had fallen asleep and wound up in the dark world shortly after her not-big sister had picked her up.

“Urgh,” the little girl growled her own frustrations to herself. It was no use, every time she tried to recall what happened ‘exactly’ she got this block, it was like trying to use her eyes all over again.

Bachiko babbled something as he nudged her side.

The little girl looked down at him, he seemed so much bigger than she remembered, and why was it she could suddenly understand him? “Bachi-chan…” her tiny dark brows furrowed as she had one hand still on her head, “Do you know why it hurts?”

He waved his partial tails, ears lowering slightly as he seemed just as troubled as her about the whole situation.

She pouted, ‘looking’ forward again, “At least you tried…” that actually made the cat lower his head even further. From what ‘he’ told her when she woke up, since she could suddenly understand his… babbling? The cat didn’t so much as ‘talk’ as gave her inferences, she just _knew_ what the bakeneko meant, and he’d tried to use his abilities to bring back what she had forgotten, but seemed to have only managed so much, ‘saying’ it would take longer for her memories to come back fully… _if_ they ever did.

Yorihi was fine with that, or so she claimed to be. What she remembered wasn’t so great half the time, and didn’t seem to bother her so much, but there were pockets and only one subject seemed to really bother her that it wasn’t there. she remembered her Father, Uncle and Sister, she remembered the bakeneko next to her, even if he’d been smaller then, and she remembered most if not all of her training, it was why when the golden cat was being threatened by the really, really **_BIG_** twin tailed one in the dark world she brought up that fighting stance, it was _like_ what she remembered from the compound only… _different_ somehow… why was that?

The little girl looked at her hand, flexing it open and closed as she tried grabbing that mysterious missing piece…

“Yorihi-hime,” the soft voice from next to her surprised the little girl out of her fixation and with her eyes still active she saw a woman come towards her. The woman wore a grey jounin triangular vest with a black sleeveless kimono top underneath. She had a grey angular skirt on over some black shorts and for some reason Yorihi got the feeling something was missing from the outfit, her wrists and legs were bare except for her black open-toed shoes. One arm was wrapped in bandages and held in a sling as she walked towards her.

“Yorihi-hime, is everything alright?” The girl’s active eyes peered at the woman’s face and caught white hair – _Shiro?_ \- white had been important about her missing memories for some reason, and this woman had white hair done with braids similar to her own. The woman crouched down next to her, her kind grey eyes were staring right into her eyes as if she knew the girl could see her, and there was this small, gentle smile on her lips that made Yorihi feel safe.

The girl felt it before she fully registered it, crawling out from under her bandanna and down her cheeks were tears as she stared at the woman, “S-shiro…”

The woman’s eyes seemed to crunch at the ends and her smile got a little wider even if it seemed just a bit sadder.

Kemui held a tight smile as she crouched in front of her student. She wasn’t stupid, she had sensed that her Lord and even his brother weren’t telling her something and neither of them had told her Yorihi was up and about. This could only mean something was wrong with the girl and while that spurred a fiery instinct in her to find her and find out what, right now, looking at the girl as she looked up at her with her covered face practically a mirror image of the time she first met her she understood…

She had forgotten her.

The white haired Assassin’s one good hand clinched and unclenched, everything in her mind going blank.

“S-shiro-san?” the little girl reached out and touched one of Kemui’s braids, her other hand absently reaching for her own. There was something there, the older woman could tell in the lines of the girl’s brow, like she was trying to grab something in her mind as easily as she grabbed her braid.

The smile on Kemui’s lips softened just the smallest bit, maybe… just maybe it wasn’t a total loss. Without thinking the Assassin’s one good arm reached out and wrapped around the small girl’s body.

At first the girl stiffened, clinching the braid in her hand, thinking for a moment the woman was going to hurt her or take her away or something… but when the white haired woman only leaned forward and tightened her hold around the girl she realized the injured woman was hugging her. Yorihi instantly relaxed and let go of the woman’s braid.

Why did this woman feel safe? She couldn’t remember her yet something felt so familiar about her, she had the white hair, and her kind smile and her comforting eyes…

Was she who she had forgotten? Without thinking or realizing it the little girl’s arms wrapped around the older woman’s neck and she buried her head in the woman’s shoulder, something about this felt so foreign yet so comforting she never wanted to let go.

Kemui relaxed as the girl hugged her back, without thinking she hoisted the girl up and stood, holding her as protectively as she had hanging off the side of the cliff, “You’re safe…” there was something holding her heart, a heavy weight in her chest she couldn’t quite remember having. It was like the emotion that gripped her when she thought Reki was dead only… different. She held the small girl, calming her breath as she spoke again, “I’m so glad, Yorihi…”

A single tear seemed to fall and Yorihi felt it when it landed on her cheek. This woman was crying for her, a woman who never seemed to cry before, held her even though she never did before. Yorihi remembered holding her hand a long time ago, her pale fingers gripping hers back when she squeezed it. She remembered thinking she was alone only for the woman to be there, telling her she’d never leave. She was scared and the woman stayed up and held her, telling her everything was going to be okay. She taught her about Chakra, praised her when she got things right, talked with her and Nee-chan, telling bad stories when Nee-chan asked for one…

The little girl leaned back in the woman’s grip and stared at her face, seeing the one tear trail as the woman’s normally so hard eyes were soft towards her, her pale face that was normally so sharp seemed kind to her, and everything about her seemed only glad Yorihi was okay.

The little girl sniffled as more tears came from under her bandanna, soaking the rim of it, but Kemui knew exactly how her big lavender-white eyes must have been looking at her, “Kemui-sama!!” and once again the little girl was attached to her neck, crying and sniffling and doing everything a small child should in such a situation.

Kemui couldn’t help the smile that came to her features, holding this girl, nuzzling her dark locks and just glad she was safe, “Everything’s going to be okay, Yorihi…”

And for the first time in a while she knew it was true.

\------

Sakumo – From Sakumotsu – Produce, Crops

Mei – Command, Decree, Life, Destiny, Dark, Niece

Gakushin Mei – Learning from Life

Jun – Level, Correspond to, Order, Turn, Excellence, Genius

Gakushin Jun – Learning from Excellence

\------

**Author's Note:**

> Just a reminder, even though this is a largely in-progress transfering work, i'd still love to hear what you all have to say and comment on :3
> 
> Till next -salute-waves- Sayounara, Mina!!  
> -Ikasury


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